When it was announced that Robert Pattinson would suit up as Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, in the upcoming reboot directed by Matt Reeves, many didn’t really see the actor as the superhero type. Well, thankfully, according to Pattinson, those people might be right because he says Batman isn’t much of a superhero.
In a new interview with Today, Pattinson talked about his recent film “The Lighthouse,” but it didn’t take long for questions about “The Batman” to come. And when the interviewer asked about starring in a “superhero” film, the actor quickly retorted that he didn’t believe Batman is a real superhero.
He said, “Batman’s not a superhero [laughs]… It’s weird, I always balk at it. I’m like, ‘It doesn’t count, you need to have magical powers to be a superhero.’”
When confronted with the reality that Batman wears a cape and that sort of garment is a dead giveaway for superherodom, the actor smiled and said, “A cape…yeah, I’ll give you that one.”
Obviously, Pattinson doesn’t see Batman as the same sort of superhero as Superman or even Captain America. Still, there’s no denying that his character is very much the most iconic superhero of them all. There’s really no other way to describe a man who dresses up in a costume that resembles a bat and fights crime as anything other than a superhero. Even if Bruce Wayne technically doesn’t have any powers (other than insane wealth and an almost psychopathic motivation).
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That’s not even to mention all his supervillains and other magically-powered heroes that Batman cavorts with regularly. Basically, we understand why someone who has spent the better part of the last decade doing indie films wouldn’t necessarily want to be the next big superhero. Still, Pattinson can’t shake this one — Batman is a superhero, and the actor is now among the likes of Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, and Christian Bale (among others) to share the distinction.
“The Batman” is scheduled to hit theaters on June 25, 2021.