After years of production and pandemic-related delays, Matt Reeves\u2019 The Batman<\/a> is finally here. It picks up with Bruce Wayne in his second year of crime-fighting in Gotham when a menacing serial killer called the Riddler (Paul Dano) starts a deadly game that targets the city\u2019s institutional corruption. <\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry \u2013 this isn\u2019t an origin story, so we\u2019re spared from yet another slow-motion shot of Martha Wayne\u2019s pearls cascading to the floor in Crime Alley.<\/span><\/p>\n Instead, Bruce is already an effective vigilante on the streets, but this new threat forces him to become something more than a brawler to unravel the mystery behind the killer. The gripping tale takes its cues from <\/span>classic thrillers<\/span><\/a> like William Friedkin\u2019s The French Connection<\/span> and David Fincher\u2019s Se7en thanks to its many twists, as well as the noir take on the Caped Crusader.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But how does it all play out for Bruce, the Riddler, and Gotham? Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of The Batman. <\/span><\/p>\n Be warned, full spoilers are ahead \u2013 so if you haven\u2019t seen The Batman yet, look away now.<\/b><\/p> At the centre of the Riddler\u2019s twisted machinations is a mysterious figure he calls \u2018el rata alada\u2019 A.K.A. the rat with wings. This person is the anonymous informant inside the mob that\u2019s responsible for giving the police information to put notorious mobster Salvatore Maroni in prison, which was a crushing blow to Gotham\u2019s drug trade. Although Batsy suspects Penguin (Colin Farrell) at first, he simply doesn\u2019t know enough to be the rat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz) is ultimately the one to figure this one out as she desperately investigates the death of her best friend, Annika, who had a secret affair with Mayor Mitchell (Rupert Penry-Jones). The Mayor told her all about the Renewal money becoming a criminal slush fund, as well as the truth regarding Sal Maroni \u2013 as the GCPD and the Mayor worked with another gangster, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) to put Maroni away. Falcone even took over the narcotics business while the GCPD was applauded for the huge drug bust, even though it didn\u2019t really have an effect whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, this gives Falcone a lot of power over the city, because he can blackmail anyone involved with the scheme to do as he pleases. He even views himself as the<\/span> real<\/span><\/i> Mayor of Gotham. When Gordon and Batman arrest Falcone the Riddler shoots him with a sniper rifle, effectively cutting out the city\u2019s rotten core.<\/span><\/p>\n So what\u2019s Riddler\u2019s whole plan about anyway? Paul Dano\u2019s twisted killer leads Batman and the GCPD on a merry chase around the city as a way of proving that the corrupt wealthy elite are the true cause of Gotham\u2019s rotten core. When Batman and James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) lock the Riddler up in Arkham following Falcone\u2019s death, the killer is revealed as Edward Nashton. He grew up in Gotham\u2019s poorly funded orphanages before becoming a forensic accountant, where he stumbled on the financial records of the Renewal project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Renewal was originally founded by Thomas Wayne and was intended to help the poorer citizens in Gotham, orphanages included, but after the Waynes were murdered this money disappeared. As the media\u2019s attention turned to the tragedy surrounding the newly orphaned Bruce Wayne, officials worked with gangster Sal Maroni to line their own pockets as the billion-dollar Renewal fund was quietly repurposed. This obviously meant that orphans like Nashton were doomed to live in poverty, all because of the greedy, corrupt elite. He even explains that it led to babies dying every year in the winter because the orphanages simply had no money to properly house the children.<\/span><\/p>\n To make matters worse for Bruce, he has to grapple with the true nature of the Wayne legacy and his father\u2019s Mayoral campaign. The Riddler reveals that Martha Wayne was part of the Arkham family, and she struggled with mental illness over the years which led to her being briefly institutionalised. The Riddler insinuated that Thomas had a journalist killed so Martha\u2019s past wouldn\u2019t come out and ruin his run for Mayor. But as Alfred (Andy Serkis) reveals, Thomas only wanted to keep the story quiet so his wife\u2019s struggles would be kept quiet, and he was heartbroken that Falcone had killed the journalist instead of scaring him off.<\/span><\/p>\n The interesting thing is that the Riddler was actually inspired by Batman\u2019s own war on crime because he saw that someone could actively make a difference to the city by taking matters into their own hands. It\u2019s that old \u201ctwo sides of the same coin\u201d approach, where the hero and villain are similar in different ways. But where Bruce forges his pain into a force for good, Riddler\u2019s warped personality transforms him into a sadistic serial killer. Unfortunately, he also has a devastating plan to flood Gotham as a way of cleansing the city of its endless list of sins.<\/span><\/p>\n Surprisingly, the Riddler actually manages to go through with his plan, using seven bombs to destroy Gotham\u2019s sea wall, flooding most of the city and causing mass chaos. Although he misses out on the carnage because he\u2019s locked up in Arkham, a small group of his online fans show up at the Gotham Arena where thousands of citizens are seeking shelter. They start shooting from the rafters, even wounding the new Mayor, Bella Re<\/span>\u00e1<\/span>l (Jayme Lawson). But thankfully Batman and Catwoman swoop in and start beating the living snot out of the Riddler\u2019s gunmen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although Gotham is devastated in the floods, the tragedy makes Bruce realise that he can become something more meaningful than just a brutal vigilante. The way he helps the survivors out of the wreckage and into the light proves he can be a watchful protector. Although Bruce\u2019s quest for \u201cvengeance\u201d was born out of pain and tragedy, he ends the film knowing he\u2019s transforming into a symbol for hope.<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, he also sacrifices any chance he has at happiness with Selina Kyle, who leaves Gotham for Bl\u00fcdhaven (hello, Nightwing!) at the end of the film. Given the huge personal journey he\u2019s just gone through, it\u2019s understandable that he wants to stay and fulfil his duty to the city.<\/span><\/p>\n Okay, let\u2019s touch on the Clown in the room. When Riddler weeps over being thwarted by Batman, he\u2019s comforted by a sinister inmate in the adjacent cell in the Arkham Correctional Facility. This unknown individual has a grisly smile and a frightening voice, as he tells Nashton, \u201cYou know what they say, one day you\u2019re on top of the world and the next day you\u2019re a clown.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Well, it doesn\u2019t take a genius to work out that this implies the Joker is already in Gotham just waiting to cause havoc. Although it\u2019s not clear why he\u2019s in Arkham, or if he\u2019s already crossed paths with the Bat in the two years since Bruce first donned the cape and cowl.<\/span><\/p>\n Eternals star Barry Keoghan is the man behind the clown for this new version of the Batman mythos, which is a little surprising given the huge success surrounding Joaquin Phoenix in 2019\u2019s Joker. But by introducing their own Clown Prince Of Crime, Matt Reeves and co-writer Peter Craig have complete creative control rather than having to work around Phoenix\u2019s character and the timeline that film set up.<\/span><\/p>\n Matt Reeves has already teased the possibility of The Batman 2, telling <\/span>The Independent<\/span><\/a> \u201cwe have started talking about another movie,\u201d so it\u2019s highly likely Keoghan will reprise the role in the future. <\/span><\/p>\n With that said, the director also told <\/span>Collider<\/span><\/a> that he\u2019d love to explore a grounded version of Mr. Freeze, saying \u201cI think there\u2019s actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n So give it a few years and we might see Robert Pattinson go up against a gritty version of Victor Fries \u2013 assuming Warner Bros. gives Reeves the green light for The Batman 2, anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n The Batman is in UK cinemas now. For more, check out our dedicated Movies<\/a> page or our full TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, l<\/strong>isten to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Eammon Jacobs Published: Friday, 04 March 2022 at 12:00 am By: Eammon Jacobs After years of production and pandemic-related delays, Matt Reeves\u2019 The Batman is finally here. It picks up with Bruce Wayne in his second year of crime-fighting in Gotham when a menacing serial killer called the Riddler (Paul Dano) starts a deadly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Eammon Jacobs Published: Friday, 04 March 2022 at 12:00 am By: Eammon Jacobs After years of production and pandemic-related delays, Matt Reeves\u2019 The Batman is finally here. It picks up with Bruce Wayne in his second year of crime-fighting in Gotham when a menacing serial killer called the Riddler (Paul Dano) starts a deadly…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/11748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Batman ending explained<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Who is el rata alada?<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/816cdcd52725b920034d7042302cdb9a2a9fe8690d4cabb9338de9a051bbc28e.jpg-a6e9bff.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"robert-pattinson-new-the-batman-trailer-newsupdate\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Why does the Riddler target corrupt officials in Gotham?<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/02\/rev-1-TBM-06166_High_Res_JPEG-6dc3671.jpeg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Riddler\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>How does Batman save Gotham?<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/02\/TheBatmanRiddlerLair-35f0816.jpeg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Is Barry Keoghan playing The Joker?<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""Barry\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1349811988-2317b7a.jpg?quality=90&crop=54px%2C15px%2C2722px%2C1813px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Will we get The Batman 2?<\/b><\/h2>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"