The Comics That Inspired Matt Reeves' The Batman

In February 2020, Matt Reeves tweeted a single frame from Frank Miller's genre defining graphic novel Batman: Year One and needless to say, the internet blew up. Miller's take on the Dark Knight has become legendary and has already been cited as an inspiration for Chris Nolan's Batman Begins.

With Reeves now entering the limelight as the next director to bring Batman back to the big screen, all eyes have been firmly focused on what this new take on the legendary figure might look like, not only in appearance but tone.

Year One enters on Bruce Wayne's return to Gotham city after his extensive absence while training at various locations all over the world and follows not only a younger Wayne/Batman looking to hone his crime fighting skills but also the arrival of a young James Gordon, soon to be commissioner, and his battle with dirty cops and a city steeped in organised crime.

Reeves, speaking to Nerdist, has gone on record to say that his movie will not be another origin story: “I wanted to do not an origin tale, but a tale that would still acknowledge his origins, in that it formed who he is."

Expect to see nods to Year One then, it sounds as if this Batman is still finding his feet and judging from the look of the costume and vehicles, he has a long way to go before we see him at full strength. This will be the raw, untempered version of the character, similar to Miller's 'novice' in many ways.