'The Batman' trailer suggests darker take on DC Comics superhero

The teaser trailer for the next year's superhero movie "The Batman," directed by Rockville Centre native Matt Reeves, remained the no. 1 trending video on YouTube Sunday, a day after its release by Warner Bros.

Suggesting a darker take on the DC Comics character than even Christopher Nolan's 2005-12 trilogy, the trailer opens with Edward Nashton/The Riddler (Paul Dano) covering a freshly murdered victim's face with electrical tape. Upon it are the words, "No more lies."

Over the strains of Nirvana's somber "Something in the Way," Jeffrey Wright's James Gordon parts a sea of police at the crime scene. He reads a Halloween greeting card emblazoned with an owl: "From your secret friend. Whoo? Haven't a clue? Let's play a game, just me and you." He asks Batman (Robert Pattinson), who is in what director Reeves calls "year two" of his career, "Any of this mean anything to you?"

Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, watches a police news conference, then rides a motorcycle through a graveyard to a large, sparse, cavelike space. "You're becoming quite a celebrity," chides an offscreen Andy Serkis as butler Alfred. Elsewhere, Wayne saves a child from a vehicle crashing inside a church, as a funeral crowd scatters and a man rigged to a bomb displays a card reading, "To the Batman."

Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman breaks into a mansion. Batman confronts a criminal crew at a rain-soaked dock, led by Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (Colin Farrell). After quick cuts to other scenes — with the Riddler's voice intoning, "If you are justice, please do not lie. What is the price for your blind eye?" — the dock setting is back, and Batman savagely beats a gang member there. "What the hell are you supposed to be?” says an astonished second member of the gang. Replies Batman, "I'm vengeance."

Next is the Batmobile; Batman being pulled up by a grappling-hook contraption; and Bruce Wayne removing his cowl as an off-camera computer-modulated voice tells him, "You're part of this, too." "How am I part of this?" replies Wayne off-camera. "You'll see," says the computer-altered voice.

"The Batman," set for theaters on Oct. 1, 2021, remains in production despite a shooting hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This 2-minute, 23-second trailer was one of several promotions released as part of Saturday's eight-hour online event DC FanDome. Comics company DC and its parent, Warner Bros., also showed trailers for the four-hour HBO Max miniseries "Zack Snyder's Justice League," a recut version of the 2017 theatrical movie, and for "Wonder Woman 1984," plus a 2-minute featurette for the James Gunn film "The Suicide Squad." The event also hyped projects including the upcoming "Aquaman" and "Shazam" sequels, as well as "Black Adam" and "The Flash."