The Batman's Red Hood Reference May Be The Movie's Best Future Tease

screenrant.com:

A reference to Red Hood in The Batman may be the movie's best future tease. The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson in the titular role, opens with a boy dressed in a red ninja costume, complete with a «red hood», who is seen play-fighting with his father on Halloween night, just before he leaves to go trick-r-treating. The boy in question is Mayor Mitchell's son (played by Archie Barnes), who plays an integral part in the movie's thematic bridge, as he loses his father on that very night when he's murdered by The Riddler. Batman visits the crime scene later that night, getting a full view of the Mayor's murder and knowing full well what the deceased man's son has lost.

The Mayor's son shows up in three major sequences of the film, including the opening where he's wearing the "red hood", as well as his father's funeral at the church and again during The Batman's finale at Gotham Square Garden. At his father's funeral, Bruce Wayne shows up to pay his respects, and maintains a watchful eye on the boy, as Bruce can relate to his loss. His sympathetic viewpoint, having lost his own parents to murder, positions Bruce in a unique place, as it not only shows his sympathy, but also his guilt and turmoil over having failed the boy. After all, his entire mission as Batman was to prevent future children from suffering the same kind of loss he suffered.

Related: The Riddler's Plan And All Hidden Clues In The Batman Explained

This is a cornerstone to Bruce Wayne as a character, specifically in the comics. When Dick Grayson's parents are killed during a circus performance, Grayson is left an orphan. Bruce adopts the boy, partly out of sympathy and partly out of guilt, eventually grooming him to become his