Robert Pattinson has spent the last several years shedding the shadow of (semi-) nocturnal predators, moving away from his career-making role in the Twilight movies—a franchise he reportedly viewed with a not-inconsiderable amount of eye-rolling amusement, if not outright disdain—in favor of more challenging films like last year’s Good Time and Claire Denis’ recent High Life. (And also that movie where he got totally 9/11-ed.) But just because you let go of the bat don’t mean the bat has let go of you, something confirmed this evening when Variety reported that Pattinson had stepped into the recently vacated cape and cowl of Warner Bros.’ Batman films.
Specifically, R-Pats will star in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, originally conceived as a directing and starring vehicle for Ben Affleck, before Affleck got terminally sick of all this Batman shit. There’s no word yet on whether Pattinson is on the hook for any other Batman appearances—Warner Bros. appears to have been warned off of its MCU-lite ambitions in recent years, but you never know—or if they’ll really try to blow Twilight fans minds by casting Kristen Stewart (who’s also worked long and hard to put that particular series in her rearview) as his corresponding Selina Kyle.
Update: The plot thickens, slightly: Deadline reports that Pattinson is still merely on the short list to play the Caped Crusader, with potential X-Men refugee Nicholas Hoult still also in the running. Variety is usually pretty reliable when reporting stuff like this, but it sounds like there might still be some uncertainty over the new real-life identity of Martha Wayne’s little boy. (Wait…your mother’s name was Martha, too?!!)