It was announced yesterday that English actor Robert Pattinson will be the next actor to take up the mantle of the Bat. The next Batman film, simply titled "The Batman", if I'm not mistaken, is set to be the first in a trilogy of films with the first one having been written by and is to be directed by Matt Reeves. Reeves is best known for being both writer and director of movies such as Cloverfield, Dawn of and War for the Planet of the Apes. Reeves has stated in past interviews that the film will be "an almost-noir driven, detective version of Batman" focusing a lot on the character's heart, motive, mind and will be heavily influenced by some of the works of Alfred Hitchcock. It will also be an original story that's connected to the DCEU and won't be an origin story, even though it will portray Batman at a younger age.

Pattinson, age 33, is best known for the lead role of Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels. The last of those came out back in 2012 and he's pretty much avoided big name, blockbuster films since then and has starred in a series of films, most of which have been either moderately acclaimed by critics or have been utter commercial flops such as Map to the Stars, Queen of the Desert, The Lost City of Z, Life and Damsel.

At first glance, Pattinson might seem like a lousy choice due to the nauseating Twilight films but, as I mentioned, it's been nearly 7 years since those films ended and he's pretty much avoiding anything mainstream ever since. It's hard to get more mainstream than Batman and maybe casting someone who's been away from the big budget, blockbuster spotlight for so many years is the way to go. I mean, it's Batman and there's going to be enormous pressure from fans of the character as it is, many of whom are notoriously difficult to please anyway and are going to complain no matter what. Neither Michael Keaton or Christian Bale were consistent, box office giants when they donned the cape & cowl while George Clooney was a TV star.

At any rate, I'm not jumping on the hate bandwagon right now as I'm gonna give the guy a chance.