Yesterday The Batman dropped its first full trailer prior to a March 4th, 2022 release date. However, at 30 seconds fan online were instantly debating whether or not Duet is a “teaser” or a “trailer”?
Watch all 30 seconds of Duet here:
Duet came to us courtesy of @TheBatman official Twitter account.
Geek History Lesson podcast listeners know of Jason’s love of Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle (full rant on our Best DC Comics Couples episode), and our shared love of the Tom King/Mitch Gerads “I love you, Cat.” “I love you, Bat.” story so it feels like this trailer was made just for us.
The previous trailer (titled Bat and Cat), is very similar to Duet, although this latest offering shows off more of the action sequences fans of director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), and modern readers of Batman titles will also be looking for. It also knocks heavily against the dark and moody imagery of Gotham we have watched evolve closer and closer to the Bronze Age than we have yet seen on the big screen.
Selina’s attitude and bearing in each trailer feels more and more like the Catwoman from Batman: Year One than ever before. FWIW Warner Bros animation made a really good adaptation of Batman: Year One in 2011. We are going to be keeping an eye out to see if Reeves’ live action adaptation borrow anything from its direct predecessor.
In fact, in a Tweet from 2018 Reeves shared his love of Year One along with one of Ashley’s favourite comics - Batman: The Long Hallowe’en:
In many subsequent interviews and think pieces on The Batman - particularly following the casting of such talent as Colin Farrell (Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin), and Paul Dano (Edward Nigma/Riddler), - there have been parallels drawn with these characters arcs in Long Hallowe’en.
For Catwoman’s part she spends a good part of Long Hallowe’en working in tandem with Batman to take down some of Gotham’s more prolific crime families while testing her mettle against Batman’s and simultaneously testing the mettle of their blooming relationship. The Bat and the Cat have some excellent fight scenes expertly rendered by Tim Sale in the original graphic novel which made for stunning viewing during the inevitable on-screen adaptation in the animated Long Hallowe’en. If we were the betting type we would expect to see similar stylized clashes in The Batman.
Duet only hints at the way Selina and Bruce are going to push each other, but we are absolutely here for it!
Batman: Hush fans will also recognize the playful banter between Batman and Catwoman from their partnership in yet another contemporary comic book classic. Ironically, Batman: Hush also received (stop us if you’ve heard this one!), the animated treatment in 2021 proving the steal-from-the-best rule even within the same copyright holder.
Robert Pattinson (The Lighthouse, Tenet), stars in The Batman in the role of the iconic vigilante Bruce Wayne/Batman opposite Zoe Kravitz (X-Men: First Class, Mad Max: Fury Road), as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
If reading this post and watching Duet has made you feel woefully ill-prepared in your Caped Crusader knowledge with The Batman fast approaching we have a slough of Bat Content in the Geek History Lesson catalogue you can listen to before March:
The Batman hits cinemas on March 4th.