A few days ago the first ever DC Fandome event hit us with a lot of announcements, news, trailers and footage of movies that are currently in the pipeline. Some are ready for release but unfortunately due to the corona-virus pandemic are still pending. While others are either still shooting or are wrapping up production. As for The Batman a teaser trailer was released along with various announcements. Only 25-30% of the movie has been shot but we got enough footage to get great two-minute trailer that is by far the best of the whole event. It is very appealing and this movie is definitely one to see in the opening weekend.
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| The Riddler |
Now I want to break it all down not entirely by myself though,
some of the insights of the hidden details and comic references were gotten
from New Rockstars YouTube channel where Erik Voss broke down a lot of clues as
well as solving Riddler’s first riddle for Batman. Director Matt Reeves had already
said the hero who will be played by Robert Pattison is a year-two Batman and they won’t be re-visiting the origin story
which isn’t a bad idea at all because we’ve seen it countless times even in
last year’s Joker movie (at least the start of it).
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| Batman's Chest Emblem |
The trailer opens up with the Warner Bros. logo and the DC
logo get smaller and bigger respectively in a stagger similar to the when you peel
or stretch duct tape and it gets bigger then stops then you apply force it
opens up again, as this is going the sound of the Riddler stretching duct tape
is playing in the background. We see the head of the victim fully wrapped in
duct tape and "NO MORE LIES" written on duct taped face with blood and the killer is of course The Riddler / Edward Nashton (played by Paul Dano), In the next shot
we see Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) Commissioner Gordon walking in and
the camera is focused from the angle of the person behind him and this person (Batman) is getting a lot of dirty looks from members of the police,
citing the resentment between the Police force and Batman as they both walk
into the crime scene. In the next slide we see one of the victim’s hand has
been cut off and covered with a paper bag unlike the last time we saw the dead
body. It seems The Riddler had cut off one of his hand that a ring
and a watch was strapped to, more emphasis on the ring which is probably an ornament indicating
his involvement in some kind of secret organization.
Something in the way a song by American rock band Nirvana plays in the background and this song choice is very important because it has two very deep underlying meanings. First of all, the song was written by Kurt Cobain their lead singer who if you read the lyrics claimed he was living under a bridge at the time but biographers have said that it was practically impossible because the river tide would’ve been too high at that period in time and that he was probably sleeping at his friend’s place. This is an attribute of depression because he felt like being homeless was what he deserves similar to Batman who although is a billionaire is not happy and feels like he is so underserving he has to risk his life on a regular basis. Also, in some of the original pressings or Vinyl copies of the album Nevermind that contains this song Something in the way, this track is listed as the final track but if you wait exactly ten minutes after the acoustics fade you’ll get a surprise track named Endless, Nameless which if you’re not expecting hits you by surprise with its quite strong and violent beginning. Meaning the song before it is literally “something in the way” of a secret getting revealed and that secret is both "endless" and "nameless". Similar to Batman who is has to be patient before can uncover a secret and when he does uncover this secret it hits him with an unexpected and seemingly "endless" violence from a group of "nameless" people (the secret organisation with the ring comes to mind). I know some might say this this is just reaching but one thing I know is big movie trailers especially does of comic book characters or superheroes hardly throw random songs in without an underlying meaning.
We see Batman’s boots as he walks towards the body, so it
likes we’re also filling his boots as this movie is going to be a thriller that
we and Batman will be solving various clues and puzzles as the movie
progresses. This version of Batman is expected to be the more investigative kind, unlike most of the live action Batman movies in recent times that are mostly the Superhero-type. On the next slide a wall of newspapers is shown and “LIES” written
very boldly in blood. On the papers by Gotham Gazette and Gotham Times on the wall you see “Mayor Don Mitchel Jr.
wins historic third term defeating opponent Bella Reál” Bella Reál is played by
Jayme Lawson. This most likely means that the murder victim is the Mayor and it
also explains why FBI agents were part of the investigation. The “LIES” written
by The Riddler on the wall most likely means he thinks the Mayor rigged the
elections or at least he thinks the Mayor did and he’s trying to expose this and other crimes.
Commissioner Gordon hands Batman an envelope with “To the
Batman” written on it left by The Riddler as Gordon's voice is heard reading the contents in the background. The envelope contains a Halloween card with “From your secret
friend whoo” on the front as well as the image of an owl and a skeleton. Inside
on the right side of the card it says “haven’t a clue? Let’s play a game just
me and you”. On the left side it says “what does a liar do when he’s dead?”
then back to the right side there’s a Zodiac-style string of glyphs which Erik
Voss brilliantly decoded on his YouTube page New Rockstars to be “He lies still”. Reading everything together we
have “what does a liar do when he’s dead? He lies still” which is a fantastic
wordplay akin to The Riddler meaning two things: first of all “he lies still”
like a dead body does also it tells us that even after the Mayor’s death there
are still more lies to be revealed.
Batman’s chest emblem seems to be somewhat mechanical maybe
it’s his bat-a-rang or a retractable weapon, it isn’t just an emblem. We see
Bruce looking from afar as who is believed to be Police Commissioner Pete
Savage played by Alex Ferns makes an announcement and Gordon is beside him and looks quite worried while a woman weeps by their side (probably the mayor’s
wife). Also Batman’s black eye makeup is shown which makes sense unlike past
iterations when the black eye makeup magically disappears once he takes off his cowl. We see Bruce ride through a cemetery before reaching his Bat cave which
looks like an abandoned underground tunnel, if you look closely you can see
“Wayne Ter…” I’m assuming it’s terminal. Andy Serkis who plays Alfred is heard
warning Bruce about his rise in popularity. The mayor’s funeral is crashed when
a car drives in and everyone scatters except Bruce who saves a boy with most
likely the woman from the previous scene besides them so it is probably her and
the dead mayor’s son that he saves. The car is sectioned with duct tape and the
letters DOA are written in the car which popularly means “Dead On Arrival”
which is probably a message about the person that steps out of the car with a
bomb, envelope and a phone duct taped to him which makes The Riddler deem him
as ‘’Dead On Arrival”. You can also hear The Riddler saying “If you are
justice, please do not lie” probably signaling the lies of the Mayor even after
death, and what better day to lie that a bad person is actually good than on
the day of their funeral? The Riddler would definitely not be happy about the
eulogies which would be expectedly filled with lies.
In another shot we see Selena Kyle “Catwoman” played by Zoë
Kravitz sneaking into the Mayor’s office and breaking into a safe before she is
confronted by Batman. Do keep in mind she isn’t Catwoman yet according to Matt
Reeves the director who says she’s just a cat burglar for now. Some kind of
deal going down outside the city of gotham sanitation eastside depot, it ends
in a shootout. In the rain is Oswald Cobblepot “The Penguin” played by Colin
Farrell clearly beefed up and very unrecognizable he also has a scar from cheek
to right below the nose. Although Matt Reeves previously said he’s not yet Penguin
boss and as at now he doesn’t even really like being called the penguin. The
next scene we see a gang with their faces painted like skulls with an extended
smile some are saying it might be like disciples of the joker or something like
that but hopefully they’re not. I mean I love The Joker although I can’t really
say I loved the last Joker movie but I loved the character itself in that in
the movie and previous ones, but I think’ we’ve seen enough Batman and Joker
movies, there are a lot of villians that haven’t been explored yet we don’t
need a new Joker. After that we see Batman get into a scuffle with GCPD
officers and is held back by Commissioner Gordon.
Selena Kyle is shown in the next shot wearing a ski mask
pointy corners similar to that of Catwoman, most of the mask is cut out with
the rest just covering hear cheeks and nose. A theory is she has similar scars
as The Penguin and that’s the only thing she really needs to hide so she won’t
be recognized, seems far-fetched though but you never know. We go back to the
funeral scene where the bomb detonates blowing up the man it was tapped to and
flinging Batman away because he was close to the victim. In the overhead shot
you can see a bomb defusing robot but The Riddler would probably have warned
them against that over the phone as well as requesting for Batman. It might
also be over said phone we hear everything The Riddler is saying in the
background. These deaths would probably make some members of the GCPD just want
to capture Batman and reveal his identity to avoid any more casualties, because
obviously The Riddler because from all indications he mostly wants Batman’s
attention.
Finally, Nashton (The Riddler) says “what is the price for
your blind eye”, this is probably implying both the police’s and batman’s
ignorance of crime in the city. Also, “blind” referring to the popular saying
‘blind as a bat’ due to the nature of bats to hunt and move around at night
which is when they have the most advantage as predators like birds of prey
(hawks, eagles etc.) are usually asleep by then. But of course the only other
prey that they’re in danger of are owls as they also have amazing night vision
as a matter of fact bats use echolocation at night which means they use the
sounds produced while they fly which bounce off surrounding objects and returns
to them as echoes to navigate. But owls actually use their eyes makes them more
effective this knowledge as well as the owl on the cover of the card all point
to the “court of owls”. An organization of rich and powerful people in Gotham
who run the city in the shadows and wear owl masks in meeting to hide their
identities and they’re Batman’s great nemesis. In some comics Batman’s parents
are the only rich people in Gotham who aren’t members and are in fact
antagonist but they are member in a few too. So when The Riddler tells Batman “You’re
part of this” Batman replies with “How am I part of this?” then The Riddler
says “you’ll see” it could be that Bruce Wayne’s dead parents weren’t as
legitimate as they seemed something that Bruce would’ve had no knowledge of,
Matt Reeves stated something similar to that at the event also. We do know
there’s another villain in the movie but I guess we’ll find out who the person
or people are going to be.
I guess that about wraps up most of the hidden details. Do ensure to leave a comment in case of any mistakes or additional information. Also, expect a similar video for some of the other trailers from the event except maybe Black Adam because I don’t know what they were thinking with that teaser. If you still want a breakdown of that though leave a comment.
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