Warning: SPOILERS for The Batman ahead.
The Batman is arguably the best Batman movie to date, in large part due to the fact it knows audiences are more than familiar with the Caped Crusader at this point. Directed by Matt Reeves (who also co-wrote the film with Peter Craig) and featuring a new Batman in Robert Pattinson, The Batman succeeds in delivering the most gritty take on its titular hero yet. The move certainly seems to have paid off, with the film's noir-like style and stellar performances garnering favorable reviews and catapulting it to the top of the box office.
Interestingly, The Batman doesn't make any overt moves to ingratiate itself into the larger DCEU canon. Whether or not Pattinson will show up in other DC movies is anyone's guess, but as of now, the story stands apart from those of the other DC heavy hitters. In fact, it's other Batman films, rather than the DCEU as a whole, audiences are expected to be familiar with before they see this new offering.
The Batman was clearly written under the assumption that the details of other Batman movies have made it into the public consciousness, a bold choice that allowed the film to go deeper and darker than any of its predecessors. The most obvious example of this is the fact that The Batman didn't explain Batman's origins at all, choosing instead to show Pattinson's Batman connecting with an orphan rather than portraying the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne yet again. While Christopher Nolan's who killed Bruce Wayne's parents in The Batman, the film wastes no time reminding audiences of how they actually died.
Matt Reeves' focus on Batman's present, rather than his past, extends past the omission of the famous opera scene. The Batman also presents a Bruce Wayne who relies on grounded, military-style technology that would likely raise a number of questions if audiences were not already familiar with Christopher Nolan's take on Batman's gear. Because Nolan took great pains to showcase how Bruce Wayne may have access to military-grade technology, The Batman's practical wingsuit, handheld taser, and adrenaline shot aren't jarring in the least. Again, thanks to the fact that the notion of a more grounded Batman has already been established, The Batman is able to introduce Batman himself in the best way yet.
Even certain aspects of The Batman's plot hinge on the idea that audiences are already familiar with the big names in the Batman universe. A late-in-the-game reveal that the Wayne family has ties to the Arkham family is delivered with gravitas, though the significance of the Arkham family isn't established before that moment. The Batman seems to bet that audiences know what the name Arkham implies - a bet that seems to have paid off and set the stage for an emotional climax. Ultimately, Matt Reeves' choice to take advantage of audiences' familiarity with Batman himself was a brilliant move for The Batman, and resulted in an all-around fantastic film.
