‘The Batman’ Is Now on Streaming
Riddle me this: What 2022 blockbuster is still in theaters but just debuted on streaming?
(Admittedly, it’s not the best riddle. The title of the movie is in the headline of the post and the image at the top of this article gives it away too. But I’m trying to set a mood here!)
Yes, exactly 45 days after it premiered in theaters, Matt Reeves’ The Batman is now available on streaming. If you missed it at the multiplex, or you’ve just been waiting to be able to watch it without putting on pants, today is your day. You can watch The Batman right now on HBO Max.
This latest reinvention of the beloved DC Comics superhero introduces a new version of the Caped Crusader, played by Robert Pattinson, who is just a couple years into his one-man war on crime. This time, Batman and Gotham City are targeted by a mysterious new Riddler (played by a superbly creepy Paul Dano) who claims to want to expose some buried secret from the past. Meanwhile Batman also teams up with a beautiful cat burglar (Zoe Kravitz) who works undercover at a nightclub owned by the avian crime boss Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell).
While a few years ago it would have been unthinkable to imagine a movie like The Batman available on streaming while it was still in theaters, the pandemic changed all of that. (Last year, all of Warner Bros. movies debuted on HBO Max simultaneously with their theatrical release, so this is actually a bit slower than subscribers are used to). And The Batman is a big part of Warner Bros.’ plans for HBO Max; they have several spinoff television series in development for the service, including one about Farrell’s Penguin and another set at Arkham Asylum, where all of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals are imprisoned.
If you’ve got HBO Max, you can watch the film right here. And if you’ve seen the movie in theaters and you’re going back for a second look to see what you missed, here are all the hidden DC Easter eggs in the movie.