When Does the Film "The Batman" (2022) Take Place?
"The Batman" is a superhero crime film written by Matt Reeves with Peter Craig and Mattson Tomlin [adapting "Batman: Earth One" (2012) by Geoff Johns as well as “Batman” #29 v2 (2014) by Scott Snyder and “Batman: The Long Halloween” #9 (1997) by Jeph Loeb] and released March 4th, 2022.
It takes place on an alternate timeline of the fictional DC Films Universe in the year:
We know this because at the end of "The Penguin" season 1 episode 2 "Inside Man" (2024), a memorial plaque is seen in the Falcone family crypt that reads "SEPTEMBER 5, 1957 ~ NOVEMBER 5, 2022" under the name of a character who dies during the events of this film.
2022 AD
We know this because at the end of "The Penguin" season 1 episode 2 "Inside Man" (2024), a memorial plaque is seen in the Falcone family crypt that reads "SEPTEMBER 5, 1957 ~ NOVEMBER 5, 2022" under the name of a character who dies during the events of this film.
(HOWEVER, a television newscast early in the movie declares it "was 20 years ago this week that celebrated millionaire philanthropist Doctor Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha were slain during Wayne's own mayoral campaign" and, late in the film, another television newscast plays footage from one of Thomas Wayne's mayoral campaign ads twice showing a clear label reading "2001 Campaign Ad", making it currently 2021 AD.
2001 + 20 = 2021.
Though, it's possible the mayoral campaign ad is from the very, very beginning of the race in late 2001 AD but the Wayne family was killed just before election night in 2002 AD, confirming the date in "The Penguin".
2002 + 20 = 2022.)
Bruce Wayne's narration very early in the film specifically states that it is "Thursday. October 31st" on the first night of the story. The final day of the story is the morning after a Gotham City mayoral election night. Most major American city mayoral elections are held on Tuesdays in November. Indeed, Bruce's narration at the end narrates, "Wednesday. November 6th". So the entire narrative takes place in less than a week within the calendar year 2022 AD.
This CBR article examines its exact setting (though it misquotes a number of years as "18" when it is, in fact, "20").
It is a chronologically early film in the DC Films multiverse (an early film to feature Bruce Wayne/Batman and a first appearance of The Riddler as well as of Oswald Cobb/The Penguin).
