Editor’s Note: The following contains The Batman spoilers.

The Big Picture

• Harvey Dent’s arrival is hinted at through the introduction of Max and Min, two henchmen from Two-Face’s gang in Batman: The Animated Series.
• The movie establishes Thomas Elliot as a key antagonist for Batman, tying into the Hush storyline from the comics.
• The film lays the foundation for Arkham Asylum as a potential hotbed for future criminal activity, hinting at developments to come in the Arkham Asylum show and introducing the Joker in his prepubescent stages of transformation.

With Matt Reeves‘ The Batman starring Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz finally out for all to enjoy, and now available on HBO Max, there’s a lot to dig through for fans in its three-hour run. This means that there are plenty of Easter Eggs you may have missed. But to make things easy, we’ve managed to note down 10 Easter eggs that hint at exciting things to come.

The Batman

When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and question his family’s involvement.

Release Date

March 4, 2022

Director

Matt Reeves

Cast

Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, Zoe Kravitz

Rating

PG-13

Runtime

176 minutes

Genres

Superhero, Action, Crime, Thriller

The Arrival of Harvey Dent

While the man with Two Faces didn’t show up in the first Matt Reeves Batman film, we did get two supporting players with strong ties to it. Actors Max and Charlie Carver worked in security at the Penguin’s club and were featured in multiple scenes in the film. The fact that two not-very-bright characters are identical twins likely means that they are Max and Min, two henchmen of Two-Face’s from Batman: The Animated Series. The Batman introducing elements of the Batman: The Animated Series into live action isn’t as odd as some may think, considering the movie’s popular “I am vengeance,” line was first used in the animated show. Plus, we’ve gotten great storylines like Mr. Freeze’s, and characters like Harley Quinn that have become part of pop culture due to the popularity of the show. This makes Max and Min harbingers of Two-Face’s imminent arrival if not just a clever Easter egg.

Thomas Elliot’s Hush

In one of the more shocking parts of the movie, The Riddler reveals that The Waynes were indirectly involved in the murder of journalist Edward Elliot and his wife after the journalist seemed hell-bent on exposing Martha Wayne as an Arkham as well as her battle with mental illness. This forced Thomas Wayne to ask Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) to pressure Edward Elliot to leave them alone, but what Thomas wasn’t aware of was the lengths Carmine was willing to go, murdering the Elliots to have something on the Waynes. This is important because the comics have gone on to establish Thomas Elliot as a key antagonist for The Dark Knight.

Arkham Asylum

With so much of the plot focusing on Batman: Earth One’s central Arkham storyline, it makes complete sense that one of the upcoming HBO Max spinoffs’ is set in Arkham Asylum. The film ties into the Earth One lore of Martha being an Arkham patient and also lays the foundation for Arkham Asylum as a potential hotbed for future criminal activity, with The Riddler seen interacting with the Joker. This could hint at developments to come for the Arkham Asylum show, which Reeves has stated is horror in nature, and could even lay the groundwork for future villains to come from the Asylum.

Barry Keoghan’s Joker

This one is arguably easier to spot than some other nods to the Batman rogues’ gallery, with Barry Keoghan’s take on the Joker coming up towards the end of the film. In the scene, we see Riddler in Arkham Asylum, talking and ultimately laughing with a fellow inmate. Although Keoghan’s voice and the little that we see of him, doesn’t fully resemble the Joker we all know and love, according to Matt Reeves, that’s very much intentional. When talking to Collider, Reeves spoke about the scene and added that there was another scene where Batman initially spoke to this universe’s Joker. Reeves also established that in this iteration of the Joker, he is still in the prepubescent stages of his Joker transformation and hasn’t become the ultimate formidable foe he is in the comics.

Batmobile and Bat Tech

Those who are familiar with the Batman games or have read the comics know that The World’s Greatest Detective is aided by his Wayne Technology equipment. The movie features this through the Batmobile, a sleek but advanced car capable of withstanding shock and pressure and also seemingly fireproof, all of which was shown in the car chase with Penguin. Another cool gadget that Batman uses, which could be a nod to the Arkham games, is his contact lenses. While there isn’t any direct comic book link to the contacts, in both the Batman games and the comics, Batman’s cowl has featured a computer processor much like in the contacts, that connects to the Batcomputer and decodes information in real-time. The film’s focus on Arkham, coupled with this style of Bat technology, points to the influence of the popular Batman Arkham Knight game series on the movie.

Selina Kyle’s Story

There’s a lot that’s mined from the comics in the film, with the first time Batman tracks her down being an almost carbon copy of the frames in Batman: Year One. Her father being Carmine Falcone is also reminiscent of the infamous Long Halloween comics where she learns that she is Falcone’s illegitimate daughter. Her tussle with Falcone in the second act, where she scratches his face, is straight out of Batman: Year One too. Her arc closes with her deciding to leave Gotham to move to Bludhaven, a town best known for being Dick Grayson’s new home when he becomes Nightwing.

Bane’s Venom

Although the film never established Bane as a preexisting threat in Gotham, we got our first look at Venom in the third act when an almost defeated Batman injects himself with an adrenaline-boosting substance. Comic book fans would know that this very Venom is what fuels Bane and is seen coursing through the pipes to his veins.

The Long Halloween

In addition to Batman: Earth One and Year One comics being key inspirations, one major influence on the movie is The Long Halloween, a famous graphic novel that turned Batman’s crusade against his rogues into a whodunnit detective story. This falls in line with the detective noir Batman in Matt Reeves’ film and, given that both stories start on Halloween, this seems to be a wink to the source material it borrows from. A major plot point it borrows from the classic story is Carmine Falcone’s surgery. In the movie, the criminal recalls how Thomas Wayne once saved his life at Wayne Manor and how Bruce saw that as a child.

Penguin’s Future

Oz ‘The Penguin’ has long been a fixture of Batman mythology, but the movie’s grounded take on the character doesn’t see him donning his monocle or carrying his obligatory umbrella. However, following the car chase scene, we do see him walk with a bit of a limp, which is the introduction of his famous Penguin walk and most likely hints at future developments to come for the character. The film also hints that he will become the criminal mastermind he is in the comics towards the end when we see Oz staring out at the distraught Gotham and realizing that it is now up for grabs with Falcone out of the picture.

The Great Flood

Another nod to the comics is in the form of the flood that Riddler succeeds in creating by blowing up the reservoir and isolating the city from the outside. This is ripped from the pages of Zero Year comics and sees the Riddler succeed in creating a wasteland in Gotham with other villains competing for and succeeding in grabbing territory in Gotham. This included power players like Mr. Freeze (a villain that Matt Reeves has expressed interest in), Two-Face, and Oz. With the HBO Max Penguin series all set to go, we could see this play out in his show before we see it in the films. The animated Harley Quinn series has previously done this storyline quite well, so it should make for some riveting TV.

The Batman is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

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