“The Batman” is scheduled to be released in 2021.  Starring Robert Patterson as Batman, I’m really curious to see how this one turns out.  I’m a huge fan of DC Comic’s animated movies and series as well as their comics.  Truth be told, however, I’m not the biggest fan of DC Comic’s most recent live action renditions, save for (of course) Christopher Nolan’s trilogy and the new Wonder Woman movie.  As a full disclosure, I did not see the live-action Justice League Movie, so I won’t be making any guesses or comparisons to continuity (sorry ya’ll!).

      First and foremost, right out the gate, can I just say how excited I am to see Jeffery Wright playing Commissioner Gordon?  The minute I saw him on screen, I immediately knew, without any hesitation, that’s who he was playing.  What a perfect fit!  Wright’s character “Bernard” in Westworld is very synonymous with Gordon.  There is  consistent do-what’s-wright (badum-chhh) aptitude.  The way he conducts his work is calculated, deliberate, and often accidentally detached from the human condition, many times overworking himself to his detriment.  This is very synonymous to the Gordon we see in Year One and the Batman: The Animated Series.  I am so excited to see Jeffery Wright show off his acting chops in this one!

      And Catwoman!  It’s so awesome to see that Catwoman is in this movie.  From the looks of it, she’s in her early stages of her career – a rag-tag mask covers her face in many scenes.  My thoughts here are that this is the first encounter between Batman and Catwoman.  Like many characters, Catwoman has gone through multiple look iterations over the decades.  She’s been portrayed as a black woman (Eartha Kitt [1960s tv show]; Harley Quinn [animated series]; Halle Berry in “Catwoman”), a white woman with either long blond or short black hair (Batman: The Animated Series; The Dark Knight Rises; Batman Returns [1992 movie]), and a woman of Italian heritage (Long Halloween [comic book]).  I’m so interested to see Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman.  I’m not very familiar with her work, to be honest.  It’ll be so great to see her on screen as Catwoman – from what I’ve read, she’s very excited about the role.

    Now let’s talk about the villain (or possibly villains) in this particular movie.  I’d be willing to bet money that this character is Hush.  Everything to me screams Hush.  The wrapped up face.  Him wrapping up other people’s faces.  The personalized letters to Batman.  It’s not only reminiscent of the classic comic book (“Hush”), but the imagery looks so very similar to Batman: Arkham City, the video game where we catch a glimpse of this character and his handiwork in a side quest.

      What about those Joker-esque minions that you saw during the trailer, you say?  In many Batman stories, writers will have the Joker “go missing” for periods of time.  The Joker is the Bat’s the biggest adversary – and as a result, it’s often quite difficult for authors to completely write him out of Batman stories.  Cue in the remnant Joker goons!  We see them in the Batman Beyond animated series as the “Jokerz”, and (while I truthfully didn’t finish the series) we see them in “Gotham” television series as well.  My bets are that they decided to conduct a “missing Joker” motif in order to make way for another villain.  In this case, I believe it’s Hush.  Alternatively, or additionally, these goons could be like the “Jokerz” of Batman Beyond – a gang of wildly misled kids who are inspired by the Joker and want to follow in the Joker’s footsteps despite his absence.

     Before I get into spoilers, let me say this on record: I believe that this movie will have strong inspiration from the works of Jeph Loeb.  “Hush” is essentially the sequel to “Long Halloween”.  I  can totally see the two plots coinciding quite nicely in a movie, and I think they are probably going to combine the two plots.  I believe that they are going to introduce the character of “Hush”, but heavily follow the plot of Long Halloween, leaving the crux of the “Hush” storyline for a follow-up movie.  I believe possibly the same ending(s) will occur as well, which would also explain the secretive nature of the cast list.  More on that later.

It’ll be interesting to see which plot they go for.  Is it “Long Halloween”?  Is it “Hush”?  Or perhaps even a combination of the two?  They are, after all, both written by Jeph Loeb.  Only time will tell as more information is revealed.  I’m excited to see the result.

   Very minor spoilers (if you can even consider them spoilers at all):

Here’s why plot-wise I think this will be our live-action rendition of “Long Halloween”:

1. Carmine Falcone is listed as being played by John Turturro. 

Falcone is a major character of “Long Halloween”, so this character’s presence would make sense in the context of this story.

2. Catwoman is in her early years with a rag-tag costume.

Long Halloween shows Catwoman when she’s first starting out.  This fits well into her rag-tag costume she’s seen wearing in the teaser trailer.  A bit of an origin story as her cannon first-encounter with Batman, Long Halloween is a great stage for this first-time interaction that’s true to the comics.

3.  Long Halloween is a go-to first comic for new readers in the Batman universe

Aside from perhaps Year One, which predominantly focuses on police corruption and Commissioner Gordon’s struggle with doing what’s right, Long Halloween is a series that introduces us to the Batman comic book world.  It’s a great place to start for a new Batman series as well.

      Okay, so now it’s time for major spoilers.  This includes the ending of “Hush” with the comic book AND with the new animated movie that has just been released.  It also includes MAJOR SPOILERS for “Long Halloween”.  Honestly, probably spoilers for this movie in general if I’m correct.  If you DON’T WANT SPOILERS, AVERT YOUR EYES NOW!

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

SPOILERS FOR “HUSH” – THE COMIC BOOK AND ANIMATED MOVIE

SPOILERS FOR “SUICIDE SQUAD” – THE MOVIE AND THE ANIMATED MOVIE

SPOILERS FOR “LONG HALLOWEEN” COMIC BOOK

SPOILERS AHEAD

 

      Okay, spoiler potential kids gone?  Great.  Now let’s get to it.

Theory #1  – The villain is Hush and the plot is based around “Hush”

      I have a major theory about the plot.  As you may have seen, I really do think this main villain is Hush.  I also believe that this movie will have the same ending as Hush.  Why?  Hold on to your seatbelts, I’m about to lay some theories on ya.

      Let’s first bring it back to Suicide Squad, the live-action movie.  I wanted to like it, I really did, but the plot was all over the map.  My fellow comic book enthusiasts and I were perplexed.  Why didn’t they just copy the exact story from the Suicide Squad New 52 comic book?  Wasn’t that the inspiration to begin with?  Or, alternatively, why didn’t they try to go for the plot in the animated movie?  If you haven’t yet seen Suicide Squad, the animated movie, I’d highly recommend you go check it out.  It’s a fantastic plot, complete with the OG himself, Killer Shark (vs. Killer Croc).  It’s a high stakes thriller that has you attached to the characters from the start.  You never know if they’re really safe or not, but you’re rooting for them all every step of the way.  There are no throw-away characters in this one (looking at you Slipknot).

    Now let’s shift gears back to Hush.  So the animated movie that was just released was a bit of a disappointment to myself and my comic-book friends, truth be told.  In my opinion, the tale is a classic – one I’d really prefer not to be significantly tampered with.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here.  Instead of revealing Hush as a childhood friend of Batman out for revenge and the Riddler as the great conspirator, unable to reveal the biggest riddle of all time (Batman’s identity), (which is how it was in the comic book), they instead have some weird convoluted ending.  The childhood friend was merely a victim of the Riddler, and the Riddler, who was posing as Hush, has gone crazy trying to use the Lazarus pit because he has…cancer??  I’m sorry, but that whole ending just let my brother, my friend Kimberly, and myself confused at the end and a bit disappointed.  I often turn to animated movies with the hopes/expectations that they are true-to-comic.  This one was a big let-down.

   However, back to my theory.  I think that writers are extremely aware about the Suicide Squad situation.  The animated version was way better than the live action version (as I often find with DC comics).  I think they realized they kinda messed up – big blockbusters come from live-action superhero movies, not animated ones (sadly).  I believe that they messed with the “Hush” animated movie’s ending, not because they wanted to “surprise their reader-base” as they previously indicated, but rather to throw non-comic-readers off the scent.  I believe that they learned form their Suicide Squad mistake and saved the baller plot-line for the live-action movie.  

     The ending of the teaser trailer almost seems to suggest that the villain is their rendition of the Riddler.  I believe that this is a straight-up bamboozle.  I think that they are going to go through with the classic “Hush” character.  The Riddler is going to be the red herring/mastermind.

   Now my biggest question: are they going to have an all-star cast of villains like they do in Hush??  Looks like probably not, which I get.  That would be a lot of commitment to a lot of different characters.  And if this is going to have a serious shot at creating a universe, they don’t want to make that commitment too quickly, I would assume.

Theory #2 – The plot is “Long Halloween” (with the same villain as the comic)

Mae Abdulbaki presented this theory in a new article on Inverse, and boy I’m thinking it might be spot-on.  In taking a look at the cast, many people are unlisted regarding their character.  Now, while this might hint towards a Hush story-line, there is also a strong thought that we might be looking at Long Halloween here.

When folks ask me what they should read to get into Batman comics, I always recommend the following three to start: “Year One”, “Long Halloween”, and “Hush”.  These were recommended to me by Third Eye Comics, and it was so spot on!  It would be great if with the onset of the movie “Joker” that DC is hitting that reset button and trying to scrap together a new universe.  

      Charlie and Max Carver (actors to appear in this film) are twins.  Now, we could get some swaperoo deception action here with a big reveal at the end, quite possibly.  This could add an interesting twist to a “Hush” based plot.  Or, as Mae suggested in the Inverse article, these could be two minions of two-face.  If two-face is revealed as a surprise villain, this would fall into line with Jeph Loeb’s “Long Halloween”.

      In addition, Catwoman is in her early stages of her career.  I also noticed from the cast that there is a funeral, and there are individuals playing members of the Falcone family: an Italian mafia family that also appears in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins”.  Anyone who has read “Long Halloween” or is at least aware of “Catwoman: When in Rome” knows that Selena Kyle is possibly the estranged/bastard daughter to Carmine Falcone.  There is a gang war between the Falcones and the Maronis in this comic book series.  That would also explain the funerals in this movie.  And Bruce Wayne at the funeral?  Well, Bruce Wayne’s father was a doctor and healed Carmine Falcone when he received a mafia-related injury.  After Bruce’s parents were killed, Carmine Falcone feels indebted to the orphan Bruce Wayne as a result of his father’s altruism, promising him he always has his back.  This creates interesting conflict with Bruce Wayne as Batman.  This also explains why Bruce is at a funeral.

      Sal Maroni is hinted at being a character in the teaser trailer.  The beginning of the teaser trailer shows newspaper clippings about “The Don” running in political campaigns.  While this could refer to any mob boss, the Maronis and the Falcones are key mafia families in Long Halloween.  It would make sense why they would appear here.  This also supports the battle between the Maronis and the Falcones featured in “Long Halloween”.

      Coincidentally, two-face origin story is involved in “Long Halloween”, and he is ultimately revealed as the big-baddie at the end of the comic book.  Harvey Dent is disfigured at the beginning of this comic book, and it’s clear he wants them out of Gotham at any chance possible, turning into two-face as a result.  The cast is being very secretive, and with old rumors that Matthew McConaughey is playing Harvey Dent, keeping cast members a secret for a big reveal at the end makes perfect sense. 

     Regarding the villain looking so much like Hush?  Either they’re going to introduce the character in this one and then follow up with it in the second one, OR perhaps this is actually a depiction of the “Holiday Killer” masked up, which would fall in line with “Long Halloween”.

      If hitting the reset button, it makes sense that DC comics would want to start with a story like “Long Halloween”.  To start with Batman, you have to start with the mob bosses from his early years.  Batman takes down the mafia in Gotham City as a step one in his early Batman career.  Once he’s succeeded, that void creates a new age of “the freaks”.  That’s when you get characters like the Joker, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and others arriving on the scene.

      It’ll be interesting to see which plot they go for.  Is it “Long Halloween”?  Is it “Hush”?  Or perhaps even a combination of the two?  They are, after all, both written by Jeph Loeb.  Only time will tell as more information is revealed.  I’m excited to see the result.