Will Robert Pattinson be the last Batman?

 On September 3^rd it was reported that Robert Pattinson had tested positive for Covid-19 and was beginning to self-isolate. This came within the first week that filming for The Batman was allowed to restart since the Coronavirus pandemic shutdown everything earlier this year.

A still from The Batman teaser trailer 

Despite all these bumps in the road, Pattinson is still set to be the 10^th actor to play the Caped Crusader, but will he be the last?

Batman has made appearances on our screens since 1943 via a range of actors, many of whom only got to play Bruce Wayne once before departing from the franchise.

The actor at the forefront isn’t the only aspect of the DC comic that has changed, but also the directors, aspects of Batman’s origin story and the actor behind the villains, including Batman’s most well-known opponent the Joker.

Most recently, Joaquin Phoenix played the criminal mastermind in Joker (2019), to critical acclaim. Within that version though, it is suggested that Bruce Wayne’s parents are killed by Joker inspired anarchists instead of by a mugger as written in the original comic books series.

The consistent changes to the franchise are surprising when considering other DC Comics and Justice League member Superman was played consistently by Christopher Reeves from 1978 – 1987 until his horse-riding accident.

Due to the consistent changes to the Caped Crusader it makes it highly unlikely that Robert Pattinson will be the superhero’s last incarnation.

On top of that Pattinson is facing an uphill climb with comic book fans due to him gaining popularity from the Twilight Saga, a young adult romance fantasy series, drastically different to his new action role.

This highlights another problem with having a revolving door of actors as each is expected to outdo the last creating an expectation that most aren’t able to reach. One example is, George Clooney’s 1997 portrayal of The Bat, in Batman and Robin, which has been slated by critics and by the actor himself. 

Pattinson, though, has recently starred in Christopher Nolan’s action movie Tenet which received favourable reviews and could be an indication of future action star success.

The question about Pattinson’s success with the role will be answered shortly but still the question remains as to why there has been so many changes to the role and why it seems so difficult to get it right.

Not every bump in the road is to the blame of DC Comics or Warner Brothers such as Val Kilmer and Joel Schumacher’s rocky relationship throughout filming in Batman Forever (1995).

Val Kilmer as Batman

And to DC's credit, the company started to create superhero movies much earlier than its rival Marvel, and understandably made some mistakes. However, since Marvel's first IronMan film in 2008, Stan Lee’s superheroes have taken over pop culture. Each fantastic hero has only been played by one actor with Spider-Man being the sole exception, so potentially, Marvel had time to learn from DC’s mistakes. 

DC now seems more consistent with their other characters as Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa, have so far remained the sole actors of Wonder Women and Aquaman respectively, though these superhero saga's are only beginning. 

The latest instalment of Batman isn’t only a test of Pattinson’s action skills but also if DC and Warner Brothers can build a long-lasting relationship with the man behind the mask.