The Batman Exclusive: Set Photo May Reveal the DC Movie Is Set in the Past

The Batman is back in production in Liverpool, but at the same time, the film's crew working hard [...]

The Batman is back in production in Liverpool, but at the same time, the film's crew working hard preparing for the production to jump across the Atlantic. Photos have begun surfacing online as the production crew turns Chicago into Gotham City. ComicBook.com acquired some exclusive photographs that reveal new details about the world The Batman is building. ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis took the photos. The first shows an official Gotham City taxi cab medallion. A closer look at the medallion shows it dated 2019, which may suggest the movie is set in the recent past. Take a look at it for yourself below!

It's unclear how much of The Batman will end up being shot in Chicago, especially since they've been filming most of it in the UK (with reports of more sets being constructed to prevent location shooting in the face of the coronavirus pandemic). This isn't the first Batman movie to have Chicago double for Gotham City though as Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice both shot in the city for a time (in addition to other locations).

gotham city taxi cabs the batman CB
(Photo: Brandon Davis)

Most of the images that have come out for the film's Chicago setting exterior set dressing, perhaps indicating that the production will be shooting exclusively outside. It's possible that local Chicago Bat-fans will get a first look at the Bat-cycle and the new Bat-mobile in action (though they can briefly be seen in the film's first trailer).

The Batman's director Matt Reeves previously opened up about how the film's version of Gotham City is just as important to the aesthetic of the movie and its story that it's pratically a character in the film.

"It's just as important as any of the Rogues Gallery," Reeves said during an appearance at DC FanDome. "It's sort of like the nature of what this place is, and the history of it is critically important to our story and one of the things that I really wanted to do because it is the center of the story - especially the history of corruption in the city. [That] was I wanted to present it in a way that was really fleshed out, I wanted it to feel like an American city you'd never been to. I mean other iterations... the Burton one had very, very, theatrical, beautiful sets - and Nolan had the version that he created in Batman Begins and that was... parts of Chicago and parts of Pittsburgh. And what we're trying to do is create a version of it that you haven't seen before."

The Batman is currently set for release on March 4, 2022.

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