#New Batsuit Has a Gun and Holster in Latest The Batman Set Photo

A gun-toting Batman? Could such a thing ever be? According to a photo posted on Twitter that was taken from the sets of Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman, the new batsuit worn by Robert Pattinson in the role of the Caped Crusader will feature a holster with a gun in it worn on the right thigh. The full ensemble was worn by a stuntman who had donned the bat costume while shooting a scene for the film.

Omg this is gonna cause a meltdown isn’t it? pic.twitter.com/reBu0UF7gH

— Mr. Undead (@_mrundead_) October 13, 2020

The idea of a Batman who uses firearms will seem completely foreign to modern audiences who have grown up with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. In those movies, much like in modern comics, Batman was shown to have a great dislike for firearms, since they reminded him of the gun that fired the bullets which took his parents’ life.
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Thus, the modern incarnation of the Batman character has often sworn never to use guns or any other form of lethal force that could cause him to take a life and become as bad as the villains he hunts. But this distaste for using guns is a pretty recent invention. When Batman first started out in the comics in 1940, he carried a gun, much like the character of The Shadow that he was partly inspired by.

Then the comics code came into being, banning all mention of guns or explicit violence in comics. As a result, Batman and other superheroes who had previously been shown to use lethal force suddenly had to swear never to take a life or do anything more extreme than tie up criminals and leave them for the police to find.

But despite Batman’s famous no killing rule, the character has taken to the use of guns on occasion. The Batman from the Flashpoint Paradox comic series was a gun-toting vigilante who was secretly Thomas Wayne. Michael Keaton’s Batman used bombs and guns mounted on his vehicles to take out criminals. Most recently, Ben Affleck played an old and embittered version of Batman who has no problem using guns and other forms of lethal force against criminals.

So it is not outside the realm of possibility that Pattinson’s Batman, who is in his second year of crime-fighting and still trying to figure out the whole “vigilantism” business, will be shown wielding guns, particularly since the bat-symbol on his chest appears made out of gun parts as well. However, it should be noted that Pattinson’s Batman can be seen using a grappling gun in a scene from the trailer for The Batman. So the holster could be for a grappling gun, a taser, or some other non-lethal form of weaponry.

Directed by Matt Reeves and written by Reeves and Mattson Tomlin, The Batman features Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/The Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson. The film arrives in theaters March 4, 2022.

Topics: The Batman, Batman