The Batman

The Batman (2022) is an American superhero crime thriller directed by Matt Reeves, who co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Craig. Robert Pattinson stars as Bruce Wayne and Batman, here shown not as an experienced public hero, but as a withdrawn and obsessive vigilante still early in his war on crime. The story follows Batman as he investigates a series of murders committed by the Riddler, a masked killer targeting Gotham City’s political and social elite. As the case develops, Batman is forced to confront the corruption built into the city and the uncomfortable legacy of the Wayne family itself. Zoë Kravitz plays Selina Kyle, Paul Dano plays the Riddler, Jeffrey Wright plays James Gordon, Colin Farrell plays Oswald Cobblepot, John Turturro plays Carmine Falcone and Andy Serkis plays Alfred Pennyworth. The film presents Gotham less as a comic-book fantasy city and more as a rain-soaked, decaying noir metropolis of crime, grief, surveillance and institutional rot.

The Batman was filmed mainly in the United Kingdom, with Liverpool, London and Glasgow forming the core of Gotham City, supported by studio work and additional filming in Chicago. Liverpool gives the film many of its most recognisable exterior locations. St George’s Hall is used for Gotham City Hall and the Gotham Bank exterior, while the Royal Liver Building stands in for the Gotham City Police Department, including the roof area connected to Batman’s escape from the police. William Brown Street, Wellington Square, the Walker Art Gallery, County Sessions House and Anfield Cemetery also contribute to the film’s version of Gotham, giving the city a mix of neoclassical, gothic and civic architecture. London provides several key interiors and hidden urban spaces: Two Temple Place appears as Mayor Mitchell’s mansion, Kingsway Tram Tunnel is used for the underground entrance connected to Wayne Tower, and Printworks in Canada Water becomes the interior of the Iceberg Lounge. Large sets and backlot material were built at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, including parts of Wayne Tower, the Batcave and exterior areas such as the Iceberg Lounge and Selina Kyle’s apartment surroundings, while Cardington Airship Hangars in Bedfordshire were used for major constructed interiors such as the memorial and Gotham City Hall material. Scotland adds a darker, more funerary texture, with Glasgow Necropolis used for cemetery scenes and Hartwood Hospital near Shotts used as Gotham Orphanage. Chicago provides additional Gotham architecture and street material, including the James R. Thompson Center as Gotham Square Garden and LaSalle Street for action and skyline material. The result is a Gotham City built from several real cities: Liverpool supplies much of the civic grandeur, London adds tunnels, clubs and studio-built urban spaces, Glasgow brings cemetery and institutional atmosphere, and Chicago gives the film a final layer of American city scale.