Warning: full spoilers for The Batman ahead!
Now that audiences have seen The Batman, we’re left to pore over Matt Reeves’ three-hour epic that saw Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight take on Paul Dano’s Riddler. While the film was a tightly-wound thriller that resolved its main plotlines, the story still left us with a few burning questions. We’re going to raise the biggest lingering questions coming out of the film and do our best World’s Greatest Detective impression to puzzle out the answers.
Be sure to check out IGN's review of The Batman!
Venom? What Was the Green Fluid Batman Injected Himself With?
At the end of the climactic final battle in the Gotham Square Garden, Batman is saved from falling to his demise by Catwoman, only for one last Riddler goon to ambush her with a knife. Unable to even stand after taking a shotgun blast at point-blank range, Batman resorts to injecting himself with a vial of green liquid in order to muster the strength to save Catwoman’s life. But what is that green fluid? The film never establishes that Batman carries these kinds of performance-enhancing drugs, so we’re left to theorize what it may be.
The most obvious answer is that it’s a dose of adrenaline, not unlike the kind that was injected into Uma Thurman’s Pulp Fiction character to restart her heart. Even though adrenaline doesn’t work the same way in real-life as it did for Batman in the film, with the drug instantly infusing him with manic strength, it’s a reasonable enough answer to this question, as far as movie-logic goes.
Then again, this is the DC Universe we’re dealing with, so perhaps it was a shot of Bane’s signature “Venom,” a fictional super-steroid the villain pumps into his body to give himself bulging muscles and serious super strength. Batman did go into a violent rage after taking the drug, and he did have a scary amount of strength, as evidenced by the goon’s face being beaten to a pulp, so perhaps this little drug will become a big plot point in a later film if and when Bane gets his hands on some.
Does Bruce Wayne’s Housekeeper Dory Know He’s Batman?
Everybody knows that Alfred Pennyworth (played here by Andy Serkis) is Batman’s closest confidant who knows his secret identity, but what about Bruce Wayne’s housekeeper, Dory (played by Sandra Dickinson)? Though she reminds us of Aunt Harriet from the 1966 Adam West Batman show, she’s a brand new character created just for The Batman, and one we were surprised to meet given how secretive Batman usually is about his late-night activities. Batman keeping his identity a secret is one of the key elements of this film, with even his trusted partner Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and his ally/love interest Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) not being let in on the secret, so if Dory does know, then that’s important information.
Given that Dory probably sees Bruce come and go at odd hours of the night, and there’s no way she wouldn’t notice his various injuries sustained from fighting crime, it would stand to reason she knows he’s Batman. However, one scene in particular may prove that she doesn’t. After Alfred is hospitalized by Riddler’s mail bomb, she mentions to Bruce that she had been trying to reach him for an hour and she didn’t know where he was. As the audience knows, he was off doing Batman stuff, but if Dory didn’t know how to reach him during his Dark Knight hours, then she probably does not know he’s Batman. And honestly, that’s probably to her benefit, because we know all too well what inevitably happens to Batman’s friends and family.
The Batman: Every Live-Action Version of Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin, and More
Why Didn’t The Riddler Kill Carmine Falcone at the Funeral?
The climax of the Carmine Falcone plotline comes when Batman finally gets the crime boss out of his lair above the Iceberg Lounge, giving the Riddler the chance to take him out with a sniper rifle. But why didn’t the Riddler just kill Falcone back when he attended the mayor’s funeral?
One could argue that the Riddler was playing a game of chess, methodically revealing key information in a deliberate order, and it was simply too early for him to take the King off the board. But given how the movie repeatedly reminded us that Falcone was in deep hiding under heavy protection, it seems like a missed opportunity for the Riddler to not strike when Falcone decided to make a rare public appearance. The Riddler was even at a high vantage point up on the church balcony (or so it was implied), perfect for taking out the primary target of his whole plan.
Most likely, though, Riddler wanted to piece out the reveals of his plan, build terror in the city, and have his van-bombs ready to take down the city’s seawall. The destruction of Gotham City being his ultimate, ahem, endgame.
Who Really Killed Batman’s Parents?
Over the course of the film, Batman learns new information about who killed his parents. However, there are various conflicting accounts, so what’s the real answer? In the film, Falcone suggests that rival crime boss Salvatore Maroni ordered a hit on the Waynes, whereas Alfred says it was Falcone who was responsible, unless it was just a random act of crime, yet neither are fully certain in their claims, leaving Bruce (and us) unsure of the truth with no way to find out.
In other Batman lore, there are differing answers to the question of who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. As far as comics canon is concerned, it was a random mugger named Joe Chill, and this is the widely accepted answer to the question. In the game Batman: The Telltale Series, Joe Chill was actually a hitman hired to kill them. In the Gotham TV show, Matches Malone is the hitman hired to kill the Waynes. In Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film, Jack Napier created Batman by murdering the Waynes during a mugging, Batman in turn created the Joker when he failed to save Jack from falling into the vat of acid, and then Joker was killed in a fight with Batman, bringing everything full circle. And in 2019’s Joker film, the Waynes are gunned down by a masked clown during the citywide riot incited by Arthur Fleck’s Joker.
It seems there almost are as many answers to this question as there are versions of Batman–which is to say, a lot–but unfortunately Matt Reeves’ answer to the question is there is none. Batman doesn’t know who killed his parents and, as things stand, it will forever be an agonizing mystery to which there is no definitive answer.
Is the Joker Already the Joker?
One of The Batman’s biggest surprises (that we all figured was coming) was the man in the cell next to the Riddler’s, the character credited as “Unnamed Arkham Prisoner” and played by Barry Keoghan, is none other than the Joker. This short scene raises a long list of big questions: Does this mean the Joker is already established in this world? Has he already committed crazy crimes that got him thrown into Arkham Asylum? Was it Batman who put him there? Did the start of the next Batman/Joker rivalry already happen off-screen?
As it turns out, director Matt Reeves has given this new version of the Joker a lot of thought. He explained to IGN that originally there was another scene with the Joker earlier in the film where Batman goes to visit him because he wants advice from a killer on how to help catch a killer a la Silence of the Lambs. That scene was cut, so it’s up in the air as to whether it’s still canon, but if it sticks, then this means that Batman already has a relationship with Joker. However, Reeves explained that this person is not yet the Joker as Clown Prince of Crime but a proto version that will one day become the maniacal supervillain we all know and love. Reeves said he’s not even sure the sequel will feature the Joker, so we’ll have to wait and see when this twisted new version of the Dark Knight’s arch-nemesis will come out to play.
Those are all of the burning questions we had after watching The Batman. Do you have some answers of your own? And what questions did the movie leave you with? Let us know in the comments down below.