Details like bloodstains, nicks, and ricochets from bullets were added, and the color was chosen after consultation with Reeves, cinematographer Greig Fraser, and the costume team. Mattson Tomlin and Peter Craig also contributed to the script, [107] [108] though only Reeves and Craig received credit. Bermejo was not consulted regarding the design, but was proud to see a Batsuit similar to his in a film.

The interior shots of the Penguin's car rolling were achieved with a rotisserie rig on a rotating gimbal attached to the car that Farrell was in. The cape was created using artificial Japanese leather, as it was impractical to use real leather due to its weight. It was originally set for release on June 25, 2021, [110] before it was pushed back to October 1, 2021, [239] and then to March 2022, both times after Warner Bros. Reeves kept the penultimate scene—in which the Joker befriends the Riddler in Arkham—because he felt it heightened the stakes of Batman and Catwoman's final conversation while completing the Riddler's story arc, [7] but he cut the Manhunter-inspired scene for being unnecessary and disrupting the pacing.

They printed out a rough copy of each element after refining it using digital software before it was molded by supervising costume effects modeler Piere Bohmaned. The Gotham City Hall set was built in a hangar at Cardington Airfield; the hangar also had a soundproof room that was set up for Dano to record certain Riddler scenes. Adam Chitwood of Collider praised what he saw as a "genuinely refreshing" approach to depicting the world of Batman, [290] and Saavedra wrote that it made The Batman look more like a detective story than a superhero film. Pictures Group chair Toby Emmerich—who wanted an "auteur" to make the next Batman film—was impressed by his initial ideas. When Annika disappears, Batman sends Selina to the Iceberg Lounge for answers and discovers that Savage was on Falcone's payroll, as is district attorney Gil Colson.

Wright described Gordon as "relative to Gotham City, to the Gotham City Police Department, to Batman, to justice and to corruption".Farrell was frequently described as "unrecognizable" in costume, to the point that Wright and Penry-Jones initially did not recognize him on set. Jonah Hill initially entered negotiations to play either the Riddler or the Penguin, [156] but exited negotiations after a month.

He sought to explore Batman's detective side more than previous films, drawing inspiration from the films of Alfred Hitchcock and the New Hollywood era, and comics such as " Year One" (1987), The Long Halloween (1996–97), and Ego (2000). Alex Abad-Santos of Vox felt the film had more in common with the R-rated Batman spin-off Joker (2019) than other contemporary DC films.Reeves approached Andy Serkis regarding the role of Alfred during post-production on War for the Planet of the Apes, [50] and he was eager to work with Reeves again. The production team briefly discussed removing the subplot in which the Riddler's online followers attempt to assassinate Bella Reál due to its similarities to the 2021 United States Capitol attack, which occurred during the final months of filming, but Reeves decided it was too integral to the story and different enough from the attack. stated that the hiatus would just be for two weeks, [217] but Reeves announced on March 25 that filming had been suspended indefinitely.