A new fan-made poster for The Batman recreates The Dark Knight‘s iconic Joker art with The Riddler. After months of anticipation, the veil is finally being slowly lifted on Matt Reeves’ upcoming take on the Caped Crusader, the first proper solo Batman movie since Christopher Nolan bowed out of the franchise with 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Obviously, the biggest reveals about The Batman thus far came courtesy of the recent trailer, which gave audiences a big taste of Reeves’ dark and gritty vision of Gotham City and its vigilante defender. In addition to affording fans their first glimpse of Robert Pattinson’s Batman, the trailer also teased Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman, Paul Dano’s Riddler and – though it was easy to miss given all his makeup – Colin Farrell’s Penguin. Indeed, the trailer was intense enough to draw instant comparisons to Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, something that may or may not be good news for Reeves and company, depending on how things play out.
It remains to be seen if The Batman has the same impact as The Dark Knight, but fan artist BossLogic is one person who’s not shying away from the comparisons. Indeed, the latest bit of art from the noted creator leans into the whole The Batman/The Dark Knight parallel by giving The Riddler his very own Joker-style character poster. See the image in the space below:
Obviously, the Joker poster from The Dark Knight, featuring Heath Ledger as the Clown Prince of Crime, remains one of the more iconic pieces of movie art ever created. And there’s no doubt Ledger’s performance in the film lived up to the hype surrounding the return of Joker to movie screens, as the actor went on to win a posthumous Oscar for his performance. The Riddler himself has much less of a cinematic legacy of course, as he’s only appeared on the big screen in one movie, with Jim Carrey portraying the trickster in 1995’s Batman Forever.
Indeed, comparison immediately become a big part of the conversation any time a new Batman hits the big screen, which is only natural given the rich history of Batman comic books, movies and TV shows that has now accumulated over the decades. Dano is certainly in a more secure place comparison-wise than Ledger was when he took on Joker, given what Jack Nicholson had already established in Tim Burton’s Batman, and he’s definitely better off than Jared Leto was when he tried stepping into Ledger’s Joker shoes in Suicide Squad. But of course, Joaquin Phoenix also played the Joker and won his own Oscar, so there’s proof that it is possible for an actor to take over such a role and win audiences’ support even if a previous performance seemed definitive. It will be fascinating to see how Reeves’ The Batman adds to the legacy of Batman and his Rogues’ Gallery of adversaries, but so far things are looking appropriately dark and menacing.
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