Los Angeles, Oct 17 (IANS): The first full trailer for 'The Batman', directed by Matt Reeves of 'The Planet of the Apes' franchise, and starring Robert Pattinson (most recently seen in Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet') as Gotham's 'caped crusader', was released at a DC Fandome virtual event on Saturday night.

Describing the "dark and gritty" film, Variety.com reports: "In a Gotham City saturated in rain and gloom, Pattinson's 'Batman', just a year into his reign as a costumed vigilante, attacks his enemies with a visceral, unhinged brutality that past live-action Batman movies never quite reached."

The film, it is speculated, pits Batman against the Riddler, played by Paul Dano ('12 Years A Slave'), but the trailer, although it begins with his arrest by the Gotham City police, is centred around the characters of Catwoman, played by Zoe Kravitz ('Big Little Lies') and an unrecognisable Colin Farrell, transformed by prosthetics to become Oswald Cobblespot a.k.a. Penguin, earlier most memorably essayed by Danny DeVito.

Jeffrey Wright, who was seen in action in 'No Time to Die', appears as Gotham City Police Department chief, James Falcone, and James Turturro from 'The Transformers' films as Carmine Falcone. The movie has been slated for a March 4, 2022, release in US theatres.