DC’s much-anticipated upcoming movie The Batman officially has a runtime. It will go on for two hours and 55 minutes, Warner Bros sources told The Hollywood Reporter. That makes the Robert Pattinson-starrer the longest DC movie to date, and one of the longest theatrical superhero releases, likely the second longest after Avengers: Endgame.

While longer movies are typically frowned upon, it is only if they cannot hold the viewer’s attention. There are many movies longer than 3 hours that have been both critical and commercial hits. The first two Lord of the Rings movies were around 3 hours mark, while The Return of the King breached the 200 minute point. Recently, Martin Scorsese’s 2019 crime epic The Irishman was even longer, clocking in 209 minutes.

Written by Reeves and Peter Craig, The Batman features a rookie Caped Crusader who is still struggling to master his rage. He wants to make Gotham City a better place, but is targetted by villains like the Riddler and the Penguin. Promos and posters suggest that he will team up with Catwoman and there might even be a romantic relationship between the Bat and the Cat.

The film takes a grittier approach to the Batman mythos. So a clownish, flamboyant villain like Riddler becomes a serial killer inspired by Zodiac Killer.

We also know Reeves wanted The Batman to explore the superhero’s detective abilities. He is not called the world’s greatest detective for nothing, and most live-action adaptations, beyond a few nods, have not really delved into that.

Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, and John Turturro play Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, Penguin, Riddler, and Carmine Falcone, respectively, in The Batman.

Farrell had praised the script of the movie while speaking to the UK’s SFX magazine last year, “I have been watching the Batman films with my kids, but this script is something that feels incredibly original. It leans into it, but it doesn’t borrow; it’s born of the mythology of that character, Bruce Wayne, Batman and Gotham. It feels like a treatment and a version that I hadn’t seen before. Matt Reeves has done an incredible job of keeping it familiar and at the same time unique and new. It’s really exciting to be a part of it.”

Serkis has said the film is a darker and broodier adaptation than earlier Batman movies. The Batman is scheduled to be released on March 4, 2022.

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