Could Holiday be the Key main villain of The Batman? Directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne for the first time, The Batman is one of the fascinating superhero propositions in the cinematic calendar. Going from the DCEU after Ben Affleck’s departure, The Batman looks set to provide a dark and unique interpretation of the famous Dark Knight. The film is confirmed to include some recognizable villains – Paul Dano as The Riddler, Colin Farrell as Penguin, Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone.
Oddly enough, the Batman of Pattinson does have a clear principal adversary. Past Batman movies have generally centered around one or two big-name foes while being Joker in the 1989 Batman and The Dark Knight, Bane at The Dark Knight Rises or Penguin and Catwoman in Batman Returns. With Reeves’ upcoming film, Farrell has already revealed Penguin does not have a considerable presence, and Catwoman is an outright villain. This leaves Riddler because the most likely big bad, but Warner Bros. is not going all-in with the Batman vs. Riddler marketing at all. Something smells off. Also, it is not just the droppings from the Bat Cave.
The Batman has long been rumored to be inspired by the Long Halloween comic arc. While Reeves himself has not confirmed or denied that, the film’s roster of characters is mostly consistent with The Long Halloween, and both stories take place when Batman is simply a few years in his crime-fighting profession. Further, The Batman was given an October launch date when rescheduled as a result of coronavirus pandemic, evoking those Halloween vibes. Back in The Long Halloween, Batman’s main enemy is a serial killer called Holiday. A string of murders happen in Gotham, and all committed sparking an evaluation at the forefront with Batman and Jim Gordon. Alberto Falcone (Carmine’s son) is finally convicted as the Holiday killer. However, there’s some ambiguity over whether he completed all of their murders, with other characters also in the framework.
The Batman will land on the grounded end of the superhero spectrum, making sense for the antagonist for a serial killer, rather than an outlandish supervillain having a grand masterplan. This would also explain why Warner Bros. has not geared their promotion towards one specific villain – Holiday does not have any value as a mainstream Batman figure, so it’s more effective to maintain his casting trick. The Falcone crime family are central to The Long Halloween. Though Alberto hasn’t yet been declared among the cast, Carmine’s presence could be an additional hint that Holiday’s murder spree forms the backbone of The Batman. As a Fall bonus, Holiday because the villain could play into the release date and the fun of October.
Given what is known about The Batman so far, many fans are understandably assuming Riddler will be the film’s big antagonist. Nevertheless, the green puzzler’s exact function could mirror Calendar Man’s from The Long Halloween. Riddler’s part in the comic story is minimal, but Calendar Man features giving mysterious clues concerning the Holiday killer’s next victim to Batman. Riddler fits that bill perfectly, meaning Paul Dano’s character might be a frustratingly vague and devilishly insane informant, as opposed to The Batman’s main villain.
The Long Halloween ties directly into Harvey Dent’s Two-Face transformation. Batman and Gordon initially operate alongside Dent to catch Holiday, but soon come to guess the Gotham D.A. is involved. Dent becomes a target rather than an ally, and we get the classic acid-in-the-face courtroom origin. Harvey Dent has not been formally declared for The Batman, but Peter Sarsgaard is enjoying”Gil Colson” – the Gotham D.A. in Matt Reeves’ Batman entire world. It’s been speculated that Colson will end up Two-Face in The Batman, and when this turns out to be accurate, the parallels with the Holiday narrative become even more powerful.
Secrecy is rife around The Batman at present, but given that the gothic visuals glimpsed so far, The Long Halloween’s Holiday narrative would undoubtedly fit with Reeves’ aesthetic, although the murder puzzle element would account for the silent secrecy surrounding the film’s authentic villain. If Holiday is set for a live-action introduction in 2021, The Batman is going to be very different from some of the character’s previous cinematic outings, but that may be precisely what the Caped Crusader needs.
