Why isn’t the Batman called the Batman in The Batman?

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After watching The Batman yesterday I have returned massively impressed with the movie. This movie was either going to flop massively or be a great success and I am happy to report that it’s the latter. Robert Pattinson is still pulling the weight of his infamous role in Twilight which has stuck with him and refuses to let go. This movie however successfully eliminates this long-held notion and would go a long way in accepting him as a great actor.

This post however is not about all that, it is about The Batman or rather Vengence as he is often referred to in the movie. Many people seem to be rightfully confused as to why the Batman is called the Vengeance in this movie. There is actually a very good reason for it.

The literal meaning of the word vengeance is “punishment inflicted or retribution for a wrong“. It could be loosely called revenge as well. The movie represents Batman’s personal vendetta against crime in Gotham.

The Batman in this movie is rather shy and introverted with the anger of his parent’s death still enclosed deep into his heart. He blames his parent’s death onto the lawlessness and crime in the city. Understandably he makes his aim to fight crime by threatening and beating criminals in Gotham. His whole plan for the betterment of the city revolves around fear and revenge.

This is why he calls himself Vengence to frighten criminals into behaving well. The Batman’s director explains this in detail:

As much as he wants to think he’s doing this to make the city better, it’s really for himself also, to make sense of his life. And I don’t think he understands the degree to which he’s driven in this way that’s really a personal vendetta. And that’s why he begins in this, when he doesn’t say, you know, ‘I’m Batman,’ like the Burton movies, he says, you know, ‘I’m vengeance,’ which does come from the comics and from the animated series. And I thought, well, what I’d love to do is I’d like to see him have an awakening over the course of the story, so he starts to understand that he has to be more, that he has to change, that it’s not enough to take this path of vengeance…

The Batman movie has opened up with rave reviews and is looking like a winner on DC’s hands. It also is a great change of pace for movie watchers who are tired of the same over the top Marvel superheroes. Robert Pattinson and Zoey Kravitz along with Colin Farrel as the Penguin and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon have been immense in this movie.

Personally, I did not like Paul Dano’s performance as The Riddler much but many people seem to think otherwise. Maybe I should watch the movie again. All around however The Batman is a really great movie if you like realistic portrayals of superheroes.

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