Along with a wisecracking sidekick and a big final battle, one of the conventions that almost all comic book movies adhere to is the romantic subplot. There are exceptions, like Tom Holland and Zendaya’s infinitely watchable dynamic in the MCU’s Spider-Man movies or Supes and Lois Lane’s Howard Hawks-ian screwball banter in Superman: The Movie, but for the most part, the love stories in superhero films feel perfunctory and tacked-on, following all the familiar beats of a Hollywood romance just so the movie has one.
Romantic subplots have always been one of the weaker spots of Batman movies. Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale gets some memorable moments in 1989’s Batman, but that’s not because the romance is particularly interesting; it’s because Vicki’s scenes highlight the dry wit of Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne, like when they’re eating at a ridiculously long table in Wayne Manor and he tells her, “I don’t think I’ve ever been in this room before.” Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Chase Meridian is obsessed with Batman’s duality for the first two acts of Batman Forever before becoming a standard damsel in distress in the third.
Zoë Kravitz's Catwoman Deserves A Solo Movie After The Batman
Christopher Nolan got a lot right in The Dark Knight trilogy, from the dichotomy between Bruce and Batman to the Bat’s complicated relationship with the Joker, but its romantic storyline is arguably the most clichéd and forgettable of the whole franchise. Bruce’s childhood sweetheart, Rachel Dawes, is a one-dimensional character who exists mostly as an extension of Bruce. The tone of her scenes with Bruce is annoyingly melodramatic. Rachel was such a dull, thinly drawn character that a lot of viewers didn’t notice she was recast between movies.
Matt Reeves’
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