‘The Batman’ to be one of longest comic book films ever at nearly three hours

‘The Batman’ is set to be one of the longest comic book films in history with a two hour and 47-minute runtime.

With post-credits included, the runtime will extend closer to the three-hour mark. Variety reports that a source close to the Robert Pattinson-starring movie has confirmed its length.

Only ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (at three hours and two minutes) and ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ (four hours and two minutes) run longer in the comic book movie world.

‘The Batman’ stars Pattinson as the titular character, with support from Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler and Colin Farrell as the Penguin, among others. The Matt Reeves-directed film is released in cinemas worldwide via Warner Bros. on March 4.

In related news, Farrell has said his take on the Penguin in ‘The Batman’ was inspired by ‘The Godfather’.

The actor, who will be playing the DC antagonist – real name Oswald Cobblepot – in the forthcoming superhero film, opened up about his influences and one character from ‘The Godfather’ in particular while preparing.

“[Reeves] mentioned Fredo to me,” Farrell told Empire, “because Fredo’s crippled by the insignificance that he lives within, in a family that is full of very strong, very bright, very capable, very violent men. Which is why he commits the act of betrayal that he does, because he’s weak, he’s kind of broken, and he’s in pain.

He added: “There is a kind of fracture at the core of Oz [his name for Cobblepot’s character], which fuels his desire and his ambition to rise within this criminal cabal. Where that rise goes… I would love to get to explore that in the second film, if that was ever to happen.”

Reeves, meanwhile, recently revealed to the same publication that Kurt Cobain was a major influence on the film. The filmmaker explained how the iconic Nirvana frontman inspired his take on Bruce Wayne.

“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’,” Reeves said. “That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.”

He added of his Batman: “I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s ‘Last Days’, and the idea of this fictionalised version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor.”

Reeves also praised Pattinson’s performance in the Safdie brothers’ ‘Good Time’. “In that movie, you could really feel his vulnerability and desperation, but you could also feel his power,” he said.

“I thought that was a great mix. He’s also got that Kurt Cobain thing, where he looks like a rock star, but you also feel like he could be a recluse.”