The Batman Star Robert Pattinson Says Batman Is A 'Freak' Engaging In 'Bad Self-Therapy'

Robert Pattinson has taken on a wide variety of roles over the course of his career, from playing a sparkly, dubious-looking vampire in the "Twilight" saga to donning the cape of vengeance in Matt Reeves' upcoming "The Batman," and everything in between. A major aspect of Pattinson's allure is, of course, his rather chaotic persona, and often hilarious takes about the shoes of the characters he fills in. Per an exclusive interview with Total Film, Pattinson talks about his "The Batman" role, calling the caped-crusader a "freak" struggling to deal with enormous trauma.

Prior to "The Batman," Pattinson had never auditioned for a comic book movie before, despite being fascinated by the duality inherent within Batman/Bruce since a formative age. Continuing to explain the legacy of the character and the effect it had on him, Pattinson states that he has seen "every single one" of the Batman movies in the cinema. The interpretation of who Batman is as a character has understandably evolved over time, and has been handled in distinct ways as per the artistic vision of the directors helming them — this is something Pattinson understands, as he deems every single Batman movie as "good" in their own right.

Interestingly, and perhaps thankfully, Reeves' titular character will not be dwelling on the character's origin story, as the telltale sequence of Thomas and Martha Wayne emerging from the opera and being shot in a dingy Gotham alleyway has been done to death via its many iterations. Be it the harrowing scene in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," or a retelling of the scene in one of Scarecrow's fear visions in "Batman: Arkham Asylum," the scene in question is inexplicably tied to Bruce's transformation into a masked vigilante. As expected from Reeves' retelling, the tragedy will inevitably fuel Batman's actions, exploring the deep, complex psychological impact of this personal loss in a more nuanced way.

Pattinson explains this internal tussle within the Batman, and his attempts at healing, which might not be the healthiest, as the character's end goal seems to be self-effacing vengeance:

"He's got this enormous trauma inside him, and he's built this intricate, psychological mechanism to handle it. It's like a really, really, really bad self-therapy, which has ended up with him being Batman at the end, as self-help.

Apart from Pattinson, "The Batman" also stars Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Ferrell.

Here is the full synopsis:

When a killer targets Gotham's elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World's Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator's plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.

"The Batman" is scheduled for release in theaters on March 4, 2022.