How The Batman Highlights The DCEU’s Gotham Problem
Setting The Batman early in Bruce Wayne's crime-fighting career highlights the mistake the DCEU made by having had Ben Affleck's Batman already fight Gotham's villains off-screen. Batman has a rich history in comics, TV, and movies, and core story is embedded into pop culture in such a way that fans don't necessarily need to see multiple versions of the same events. However, jumping ahead and excluding Batman's origin story to avoid repetition also comes with the problem of a lack of character development.
Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne is only in his second year of vengeance in The Batman, and throughout the movie, his trials and tribulations are clear as day as he attempts to overcome the Riddler. Conversely, Ben Affleck's interpretation of Batman for the DCEU makes him a cynical veteran. In Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, he's been fighting crime in Gotham for twenty years — highlighting both his experience and distance from his origins as a crime fighter.
Related: The Batman's Best Gotham Change Is Thanks To Nolan's Forgotten Villain
On paper, at the time, having Ben Affleck be a veteran hero could have worked. Audiences had just seen Christian Bale's journey as Batman through the Dark Knight trilogy, and starting back at the beginning in the DCEU could have been interpreted as repetitive. Ben Affleck's Batman is world-weary and has seen it all (until Kryptonians show up). The mistake, though, is that the audience doesn't have the chance to really understand his version of the character at this stage of his life. The obstacles that made him who he is have already happened. He will have already fought the DCEU's version of the Riddler, along with the Joker, the Penguin, and the rest of his rogues' gallery. The
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