After a long delay, The Batman has finally swooped into theaters. We thought The Batman was a masterpiece and, based on its largely positive critical reception, we’d be surprised if you haven’t raced to a theater to watch it yet.
If you have seen it, we imagine you have questions about The Batman’s ending and post-credits scene. Below, we’ll reveal what the ending of the Dark Knight’s latest movie means for a possible sequel. We also take a look at The Batman’s post-credits scene and explain more about the future of this Caped Crusader live-action franchise.
Major spoilers follow for The Batman. If you’ve yet to see it, turn back now. Bookmark this page, though, and read up on the information below once you’ve watched this DC movie.
The Batman ending explained
Unsurprisingly, Batman – with some much-needed help from Selina Kyle – saves the day.
Well, sort of. The duo stops the Riddler and his armed followers from killing Gotham City mayoral candidate Bella Reál, as well as her followers, at a rally. And, with the aid of Police Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Gotham’s law-abiding police officers, the pair leads people to safety after the Riddler’s sinister masterplan winds up flooding Gotham’s streets.
Riddler did win, though, in some small way. He revealed the extent of the corruption within Gotham, killed a number of innocent people, and terrorized the city with his fear-inducing videos and multiple crimes. He pushed Batman to his limit and, while the Riddler inadvertently made the Dark Knight realize how important he is to Gotham’s citizens, others aren’t convinced that the city is worth fighting for.
Disappointingly for Batman/Bruce Wayne, one of those individuals is Kyle. She tries to convince Batman to leave Gotham to its fate – “this place is never gonna change”, she tells him – and join her in Bludhaven. But Batman’s allegiances lie with his city and, after the duo playfully race their motorbikes through Gotham’s cemetery, they share a bittersweet goodbye before going their separate ways.
There is one particularly significant scene involving the Riddler and another Arkham Asylum inmate, which is shown before Batman and Kyle part ways. We covered this sequence in a news piece, including quotes from director Matt Reeves that allude to the futures of each character. However, Warner Bros. requested that we hold that spoiler-based content back until a later date. Once we have the go-ahead to use Reeves’ comments, we’ll update this section.
The Batman post-credits scene: is there one?
Yes, but it’s not really worth sticking around for. Once the credits have rolled, a simple ‘goodbye’ message – styled in the same way as Riddler’s green-colored computer messages from earlier in the film – pops up. It hangs around for a few seconds before the screen cuts to black.
Evidently, there’s not much we can infer from this. The message could simply be Warner Bros’ way of saying farewell to us after we’ve watched a three-hour-long – albeit brilliant – Batman movie. Given that the end credits scene also reveals a link to an official website – Rata Alada – that ties directly into The Batman’s plot, the film’s post-credits scene is most likely just a marketing ploy to get audiences to visit said website.
Alternatively, you could interpret it as the Riddler somehow getting access to his computer – we’re not sure how, seeing as he’s locked up in Arkham – and teasing us that he’ll return. It’s that, or one of his followers made it out alive and posted the message for him. We’ll have to wait and see if this post-credits scene ties into a potential sequel to The Batman. Speaking of which…