“This isn’t the podcast you deserve, but it is the one you need right now.” – Alfred Pennyworth in some modern iteration of Batman, probably.



The Cinematic Schematic returns in our March edition to take a dive deep into Gotham’s criminal underbelly to answer the most important question regarding The Batman: Does the big screen need another new take on Batman, especially so soon, and if so, is writer/director Matt Reeves up for the challenge?



Rejoining host Caleb Masters to explore the answers to those questions is the podcast’s quintessential and reliably talented Lucius Fox-like recurring host, Laron Chapman, the self-proclaimed “Calendar Man” of podcast guests, Daniel Bokemper, and the George Clooney Batman of guest hosts, Brock Lay.



Since the character first made his way to the big screen in Batman: The Movie (1966), the caped crusader has been the star of eleven theatrically released films(not including 2017’s Justice League) featuring six different actors in live-action and two different voice actors (never forget Kevin Conroy or Will Arnett).



Despite eventually becoming a fresh standalone take on the character, The Batman originally started as another DC Extended Universe (DCEU) movie featuring writer/director/producer/star Ben Affleck. In 2017, the Argo writer/director stepped away from the behind-the-scenes of the project, and after the huge failure of the Justice League later that year, WB brought in Matt Reeves of Cloverfield and War for the Planet of the Apes fame who opted to restart from scratch. Reeves cast Robert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga actor most recently seen in indie auteur hits like Good Time and The Lighthouse, as the seventh actor to take on the live-action role. To complete the supporting cast to go toe-to-toe with Pattinson, Paul Dano, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, and Peter Sarsgaard all joined the movie.



In today’s oversaturated landscape of superhero comic movie adaptations, one important creative question is, what else is there left to say or explore with this character? Thankfully, Reeves answers that question by presenting “the world’s greatest detective,” as, well, a great detective set in a very David Fincher’s Seven-Esque Gotham. How well does this take to match up against the other versions of the character?



Tune into our very in-depth conversation covering The Batman, including our ranking of each theatrically released version of the character to date, to decide if you should see this movie or where this version may land for you.



Producer’s note: The music featured in the opening of today’s episode is titled