Christopher Nolan may have introduced the world to a dark, gritty, high-stakes Gotham City, but Matt Reeves has opened the floodgates on the wealth of grimdark potential lying within The Batman.
This is not the Batman that cinema-goers are used to—he is not as sure-footed in his humanity as previous adaptations, nor is he ready to embrace having genuine connections with anyone in his orbit.
As far-fetched as some elements of the film are (this is, after all, a superhero movie) The Batman is perhaps the most realistic interpretation of a comic book story in recent memory.