Director Matt Reeves has confirmed a small but interesting detail from one of the sequences in his hit film The Batman. The scene features the outskirts of Gotham’s Iceberg Lounge where anyone who looks closely can see Paul Dano’s Riddler in plain sight.
The scene is a part of the film’s mise-en-scène, which adds details to a major sequence later in the film, making Reeves’ The Batman furthermore thorough and accounts for Reeves’ methodical direction.
The scene, pointed out by @ajrascals, was shared by Ryan Unicomb on his Twitter feed (see below) and came on-screen at 31:55 during the film’s run. It features the outskirts of the city club, Iceberg Lounge, a Penguin-owned facility. On the left of the scene’s frame, is an apartment building, wherein, a person is lurking through his window, scanning the outer area. The tweet figured that the said person is none other than Paul Dano’s Riddler. Ryan also asked Matt Reeves for his response on this theory, which the director confirmed to be 100% true.
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Confirming this detail, Matt Reeves added detail to his vision for the DC Comics story while also proving that he indeed had tried to surpass previous Batman films in terms of setting, tone, and production design. The scene featured right at almost the beginning of the film also brings a later sequence full circle, explaining that sudden shock it brought to the audience.
The Detail Makes Sense of [Spoiler]
Spoilers for The Batman ahead
Warner Bros. Pictures
In the later part of the film, Batman and Gordon, with the help of Selina, discovers that the informer running Gotham PD and administration on his fingers is none other than Carmine Falcone. It unravels that Falcone has for years used Thomas Wayne’s trust fund for the city’s renewal to launder money after his death and has bought off almost everyone in the administration.
When Falcone is arrested, Riddler shoots him from a nearby apartment window, only to later surrender, considering his work complete. From the new detail, it’s clear that Riddler has been keeping tabs on people going in and out of the lounge. Earlier in the film, Batman also discovers several pictures of officials from the court, the mayor’s office, and the police department frequenting the lounge, all of which were taken by Riddler. The detail also brings full circle those moments where Riddler had spied on them. The apartment apparently gave Riddler full access to the main entrance of the lounge, giving him chance to take snaps of several corrupt officials, some of whom he murders in the film.
It has been a practice for directors like Reeves to leave such minute details to make their films wholesome and leave no gaps or loopholes for the audience to point out. There are several more Easter eggs in The Batman that have been discovered, while many more are under hunt. With the film now available on streaming for HBO Max, the hunt will gain momentum.
The Batman debuted on HBO Max on April 18th, after a successful $700M+ collection at the worldwide box-office, and can now be viewed directly by all subscribers. It will release on Blu-ray with additional special features and deleted scenes next month.
