The Batman · reception & legacy

2022 · Matt Reeves

How The Batman has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Landed in 2022 to strong reviews and 'finally, detective Batman' enthusiasm, with the three-hour runtime the main sticking point. As superhero fatigue set in over the following years, its stock only rose — it's now routinely held up as proof the genre can still feel like cinema.

What's debated

Fans endlessly relitigate whether the final act overstays its welcome — and where Pattinson ranks in the eternal Bale-vs-everyone Batman wars.

Its footprint

'I am vengeance' instantly entered the meme lexicon, and emo Bruce Wayne — lank hair, smeared eyeliner, Nirvana's 'Something in the Way' droning underneath — became shorthand for the ''he's literally me'' sad-boy protagonist joke. The needle-drop sent the 1991 Nirvana track surging back up the streaming charts.

Where it stands

A Letterboxd darling and a fixture near the top of modern comic-book-movie rankings — the 'gritty Batman' people actually mean it about.

★ Did you know? Matt Reeves has said he wrote the film while listening to Nirvana's 'Something in the Way' and modeled his reclusive Bruce Wayne partly on Kurt Cobain — which is why the song bookends the film.

Named by the director

Influences Matt Reeves has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Chinatown (1974) — Reeves cited it as a key model for the film's noir detective structure and civic-corruption mystery.
Taxi Driver (1976) — Named by Reeves for its lonely, voice-over-driven protagonist drifting through a rotting city.
The French Connection (1971) — Reeves pointed to its gritty 70s street-level realism as a touchstone for Gotham.
Klute (1971) — Cited by Reeves among the 70s paranoid thrillers that shaped the film's tone and texture.
Last Days (2005) — Reeves cited Gus Van Sant's Cobain-inspired film as the seed for his withdrawn, rock-recluse Bruce Wayne.