The Batman may not be an origin story for Bruce Wayne, but it will be for Catwoman, The Penguin, and The Riddler.

At a recent panel attended by IGN, director Matt Reeves explained, “The thing about the movie is that it isn’t a Batman origin story, but it is an origin story for every rogue’s gallery character that you come across,” he revealed. “Selina Kyle is not yet Catwoman and The Penguin is not yet the kingpin.”

We'd previously heard that Catwoman's origins would be covered in the movie, but it seems we'll be getting the same approach for other famous foes.

Zoë Kravitz had a lot to say about her take on Catwoman, and it looks as though the young Selina Kyle hasn’t quite become the villain we know and love. At least, not yet.

“It was really lovely to be able to play Selina and not have to jump straight to Catwoman,” said Kravitz. “I had this wonderful opportunity to slowly develop her, and the audience gets to come on that journey with me.” Of course, Kravitz finds ways to hint at “you know… who she will become”.

But then, Catwoman and The Penguin (Colin Farrell) aren’t the only villains in The Batman. We’ll also see the legendary mob boss, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), not to mention the main act – Paul Dano’s vigilante take on The Riddler.

This focus on The Batman’s villains moves away from the traditional origin story, which usually focuses on the death of Batman’s parents. And though this element will remain in The Batman's background, Bruce Wayne’s rise as the caped crusader isn’t exactly the same.

“It’s kind of different to the traditional origin story,” explained Pattinson. “He doesn’t go away and train and come back as a fully mastered Batman at all, and he’s not the traditional playboy persona. Something has happened to him and he’s basically just… there’s too much trauma for him to deal with. When he’s Bruce – it’s still the day his parents died. He hasn’t gotten over it at all.”

As for the film’s villains, there are plenty more to explore in potential sequels, with director Matt Reeves keen to take on Mr. Freeze. Meanwhile, Robert Pattinson wants to explore the Court of Owls. With two sequels said to be on the cards, that sounds like one hell of a trilogy.

Robert Pattinson stars as The Batman alongside Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, and Paul Dano as The Riddler. The Batman is directed by Matt Reeves, based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Peter Craig.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Batman’s voice is almost as iconic as the Dark Knight himself – a gravelly growl that resonates throughout the Gotham underworld. So with that pressure how did Robert Pattinson’s find his take on The Batman's tones?

At a recent panel attended by IGN, the 35-year-old star of The Batman opened up about how he worked on his very own Bat-voice:

“I think the first two or three weeks we were doing a variety of different voices because there are only a couple lines in the first few scenes we shot,” he explained. “Me and Matt [Reeves, director] just sort of settled on something... it started to sit in a very particular place. It felt like a progression from other Bat-Voices, and started to feel somewhat comfortable to do as well."

According to Pattinson, there was a lot of trial and error in those early days. Being cast about seven or eight months before the film began shooting, he had plenty of time to experiment, and ultimately found a voice he was happy with.

“It's weird, it just suddenly starts to feel right,” he explained. “It seems that the more you embody the suit, the more you embody the character; it just started to come out quite organically. That's kind of what I was trying to do with the character; I was trying to think, he's not putting on a voice – he puts on the suit, and the voice just starts happening for him.”

As well as finding his voice, Pattinson explained how he found his own persona for Bruce Wayne, and more importantly, his reason for becoming The Batman.

"The suit, the Batmobile, all his tools – it’s just a guy obsessing in his basement, building," he said. "Even the grapple gun – it’s [Taxi Driver antihero] Travis Bickle. It’s a guy sitting there going, ‘My city is collapsing around me – I need to build these little tools’."

But director Matt Reeves explained that Pattinson’s versatility was key to finding the right voice.

“One of the many amazing things about [Robert Pattinson] is that he has such incredible technical control of himself... of his instrument,” he said. “He can do things with his voice... It was a crazy thing... I was saying, 'Oh, you can go lower?' I was like, 'That's amazing.'”

Previous Batmen have all found their own way into the voice. Although Ben Affleck’s Batman used the high-tech wizardry of a voice modulator to alter its pitch, it sounds as though this time around, it was all on Pattinson.

“He went through this process of searching where it felt like that voice should sit,” explained Reeves. “He has an incredible ear for mimicry and accents. There's no dialect coach; that's just who he is... The voice is one of the key ways into the character for you, right? You told me that if you played someone with exactly your accent, that your voice would probably not come out exactly in your voice... Would you say that is true? It seems to me that you have a very special process.”

But when it comes down to it, Pattinson was rather humble about his ability, saying it just came down to mouth shapes. “It seems obvious in retrospect, but you don't really realize... that the whole character, the whole performance of your voice is how many different shapes you can do with your mouth,” said Pattinson. “But yeah, you don't realize until you're doing it.”

Robert Pattinson stars as The Batman alongside Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, and Paul Dano as The Riddler.

The Batman is directed by Matt Reeves, based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Peter Craig.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Damage State, a three-person development team from the same UK town as Forza Horizon 5 developer Playground Games, has announced Scathe, a bullet-hell first-person shooter due out this year for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. A playable PC demo will be available as part of Steam Next Fest from February 21-28.

Scathe is being published by Kwalee. As you can see in the announcement trailer above, Scathe is a fast-paced FPS that emphasizes speed, promising "big guns and even bigger demons."

Scathe will also include a drop-in/drop-out cooperative mode. As the developers describe it, "You play as Scathe, Enforcer of the legions of Hell, forged from the earth by the Divine Creator themself. And you, like your fallen kin before you, must prove your worth by navigating a deviously crafted maze, entangled with demonic evil at every twist and turn."

You can wishlist Scathe on Steam if you're interested.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Skybound's latest comic book announcement is a bit different from the norm. Rather than debuting a brand new series, the publisher is bringing the complete run of acclaimed French comic Lastman to the English language market for the first time. As it turns out, Skybound founder Robert Kirkman is "absolutely obsessed with" the series.

Lastman was created by Bastien Vivès, Yves "Balak" Bigerel and Michaël Sanlaville. This heavily manga-influenced series is set in a fantasy world called Valley of Kings, where each year the king and queen hold a tournament of magicians. The series' protagonist, 12-year-old Adrian Velba, dreams of winning the tournament. But when his partner falls ill, Velba has no choice but to team up with the brutish Richard Aldana, a fighter who prefers his hands to magical spells.

Lastman was originally published in 12 volumes (or "Tomes") between 2013 and 2019. First Second Books originally acquired the rights to publish English language translations of the series, but only the first six Tomes ever saw release in the US. Skybound has now taken over distribution rights to the full series and will begin releasing new graphic novel collections of Lastman in Fall 2022. Each graphic novel will collect two Tomes and will feature revised translations more faithful to the original French text.

Publishing Lastman in English is a bit of a passion project for Kirkman, who will also be writing the foreword for the first graphic novel.

“LASTMAN is a revelation of immense creativity, thrilling as a fan and humbling as a creator," said Kirkman in Skybound's press release. "Balak, Sanlaville, and Vivès have combined to create an evolving story, each volume advancing the story in an entertaining and engaging way, while also being completely different than the volume before. It's a masterclass in tone, originality, and world-building. It's a series I'm absolutely obsessed with, and I'm sorry this quote seems dry and hyperbolic. I don't mean for it to, I'm trying to be sincere. This is me, Robert Kirkman, trying to sincerely urge anyone reading this to buckle down and get ready for awesome when this book is finally available to you."

Kirkman continued, "I don't like writing quotes like this. It's not fun. I don't know if they work. Are you reading this, still on the fence, waiting for these words to sway you into trying this amazing series? A mere glance at the art isn't enough? Really? Okay. So I'm here, trying to help you. Because whether you know it or not, you need this book in your life. You just do. I don't know you. I don't know anything about your life. But I know that. You need to read this book. Everyone does. The world is a better place because this book is a part of it. Don't you want to be a part of this world? It's been a rough few years for everyone. Treat yourself. You deserve it. You deserve LASTMAN. Get it.”

Look for Lastman Vol. 1 to hit comic book stores and digital providers on November 15, 2022.

Even if you're not familiar with the Lastman comic, you may have played the video game spinoff. The comic inspired 2016's LastFight, a fighting game released on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.

In other comic book news, Batman is taking over Superman's Fortress of Solitude and IGN got an exclusive first look at The Passageway, the start of Jeff lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's new shared horror universe.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, game director on The Witcher 3 and co-director for Cyberpunk 2077 has started up a new AAA studio in Poland called Rebel Wolves.

The studio has already lined up its first project, a AAA dark fantasy game built using Unreal Engine 5. You can check out the first teaser art for the game below.

The Rebel Wolves team is assembled from veterans of the Polish AAA development scene including developers who’ve worked on Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher series, Thronebreaker, and Shadow Warrior 2.

This includes director Tomaszkiewicz, design director Daniel Sadowski (Witcher 1), Narrative director Jakub Szamalek (Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077), animation director Tamara Zawada (Witcher 3), art director Bartlomiej Gawel (Witcher 1-3), CFO Michal Boyrka, and studio head Robert Muzynowski.

“In order to create truly great games, we won’t chase trends or numbers,” says Szamalek. “Our goal is clearly defined: to create memorable games, tell moving stories, and evoke visceral emotions. It’s ambitious, true - and I’m glad it is. Art needs ambition. I don’t want to create another game, I want to work on titles people will remember.”

Founder Tomaszkiewicz says the name for the studio was inspired by the power that comes from a pack of wolves versus a lone wolf. “Personally, I couldn’t be happier to have banded together with friends who share this passion. We’re developing a video game we’d like to play in a way that games should be made,” Tomaszkiewicz says in reference to the studio goal of breaking away from traditional AAA development.

“We want to evolve the cRPG genre by creating unforgettable stories… all while working as a tightly knit team united by a shared goal and ambition… We want to stay small and agile — a place where people know and care for each other.”

The move away from traditional AAA development could be a response to reports of crunch employed in some of Poland’s biggest development studios like CD Projekt Red and Techland. With breaking this trend as a stated goal for Rebel Wolves, the team is looking to hire and build out its new game studio with open positions currently available.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

No Man's Sky is getting a complete combat overhaul with its Sentinel Update. The free update changes the look and feel of weapons, adds new ones altogether, and provides an array of new and tweaked enemies to use them on.

Due to be released today, developer Hello Games says Sentinels should create "a more dynamic and impactful combat experience". Sentinels have existed as robotic enemies in the game since launch, but will themselves be tweaked in the update, and Hello is also adding new Sentinel-focused story missions to let players explore the range of new features.

The arsenal of new weapons includes a high-energy Neutron Cannon, an active camo cloaking device, and an electrifying stun grenade, but players can also upgrade current weapons with new abilities and install an AI into their Minotaur Exomech to make it a personal bodyguard.

All Multi-Tool systems have also received a visual overhaul to add new projectiles, beams, lighting effects, and so on, while "a vast list of tweaks and refinements have been made to weapon feel and flow."

To make it a fair fight, the Sentinels themselves are receiving an update too. Several new drones are being added, specialising in heavy combat, shielding, repairing, and summoning backup.

For those seeking a tougher challenge, a Sentinel Hardframe Mech is also being added to No Man's Sky. These new enemies are big, heavily armoured, and equipped with lasers, grenades, a plasma-powered flamethrower, and a jetpack.

There also seems to be a Sentinel raid of sorts in the form of Sentinel PIllars, which Hello says offers "exclusive rewards and mysterious stories awaiting those who would breach its robotic archive."

Speaking to IGN, Hello Games founder Sean Murray said it was the will of No Man's Sky community that led them to create this combat-focused update.

He said: "Combat has long been requested as an update feature, and we're delighted to finally be able to focus on it.

"No Man's Sky is a game about exploration sure, but our universe has always been one with a lot of danger, from pirates, to sentinels, to hazardous planets. It's always been a game about survival, and improving the variety and depth of the challenge I think lifts all aspects with it."

This is because, while combat is just a sliver of No Man's Sky's overall gameplay, it's "not uncommon to see folks spending 10 plus hours at a time on missions or expeditions which are combat focused."

While the update is available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC today, Nintendo players can enjoy the update alongside the rest of No Man's Sky when it comes to Switch this summer.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

The Last of TV Show can do Naughty Dog's original game justice according to Pedro Pascal, the actor playing Joel in the upcoming HBO series.

In an interview with German magazine Neelix, as spotted by Dualshockers, Pascal was asked if he feels a lot of pressure given how beloved the original Last of Us game is.

He replied: "I think the cinematic adaptation can more than live up to the original game. I have absolutely no doubts that we won’t disappoint fans of the game or new viewers alike [IGN's own translation]."

The (extremely expensive) show will cover the entirety of the first game in Season 1, but may take detours along the way. A previous movie version of the project fell apart, as it was too action focused, and The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann explained that the show would be shot more like an indie film, dispensing with some of the more superfluous action sequences needed for pacing when playing, and seemingly focusing more on the human drama.

Druckmann also seems to have faith in the series as he shared his excitement upon seeing a first look on Twitter: "When I first saw them on set in full costume, I was like: 'Hooooooly s**t! It's Joel & Ellie!'" Druckmann himself will seemingly be directing at least some episodes of the show.

The show's 10-episode first season is expected to be in production until at least the summer of 2022, and HBO have so far released just one image of characters on set. It shows Pascal as Joel alongside Bella Ramsey as Ellie, standing facing away from the camera as they look across a barren landscape.

The majority of the series' cast has already been revealed by HBO, which also includes Parks and Recreation's Nick Offerman as Bill, Anna Torv as Tess, and Merle Dandridge as Marlene.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Batman may have a plan for just about everything, but he's still just an ordinary human. But what happens when Batman is suddenly given control of some of the most powerful weapons in the DC Universe? That's the premise behind an upcoming DC Comics series dubbed Batman: Fortress.

Written by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's Gary Whitta and drawn by Transmetropolitan and The Boys co-creator Darick Robertson, Fortress explores what happens when Batman is forced to respond to an alien invasion. With Superman MIA, Batman has no choice but to take command of the Fortress of Solitude and unleash every tool in its vast arsenal to combat the invaders.

Here's DC's official description for the eight-issue limited series:

When an unknown alien ship enters Earth’s atmosphere, disrupting global power and communications and plunging the planet into chaos, the world is left wondering…where is Superman when he is needed most? In the mysterious absence of the Last Son of Krypton, Batman must rally the rest of the Justice League to counter the alien threat…but first, he must quell a crime wave on the blacked-out streets of Gotham! Gary Whitta (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Darick Robertson (The Boys) join forces to turn everything you think you know about Superman upside down in DC’s new comic book mini-series Batman: Fortress launching this May!

“This has been my first opportunity to collaborate with my Oliver co-creator Gary Whitta for DC, on a character that is one of my all-time favorites to draw,” said Robertson in DC's press release. “I'm having the best time creating the art for this series and with my pal and original The Boys editor, Ben Abernathy at the helm, it's been a dream project, with a lot of fun twists and surprises ahead for the readers!”

“It’s always been my dream to write a truly epic Batman story, one that draws inspiration from some dark and unexpected corners of the DC universe,” said Whitta. “The opportunity to once again collaborate with my friend Darick Robertson makes this all the sweeter. I hope that together we’ve done justice to some of DC’s most iconic characters, while at the same time reinventing everything you thought you knew about them…”

Batman: Fortress #1 will be released on Tuesday, May 24.

Fortress may well be one of the few outlets for a traditional Justice League story in 2022. DC recently revealed that almost every member of the team will be killed off in April's Justice League #75, a story echoing 1992's infamous Death of Superman crossover. That tragedy paves the way for Dark Crisis, a new crossover that shows new Superman Jon Kent rallying Earth's surviving heroes against an existential threat.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops will be discontinued in "late March 2023," Nintendo announced today, effectively closing off access to a host of content that can only be found on those platforms.

The shutdown will be a multi-stage process that will last through 2022 and until 2023. The specific dates are as follows:

May 23, 2022: It will no longer be possible to add funds using a credit card to a 3DS/Wii U eShop account.

August 29, 2022: It will no longer be possible to use an eShop card to add funds. However, it will still be possible to redeem download codes.

Late March 2023: It will no longer be possible to make purchases, download demos or themes, redeem a download code, or add funds.

If you're worried about your existing library of eShop games, the good news is that you will be able to redownload content you already own as well as existing software updates. However, it will be impossible to purchase new games.

The discontinuation of the Wii U/3DS eshop will remove access to 1799 titles currently available on the eShop. They include Virtual Console releases for the GBA as well as a host of other unique updates, such as the 3D Classics remakes. While many 3DS and Wii U games can be purchased physically, the eShop closure will put additional pressure on supply and raise prices across the board.

One element of Nintendo's FAQ addresses the company's obligation to classic game preservation. The statement — now deleted — directs fans to Nintendo Switch Online, saying that Nintendo "currently have no plans to offer classic content in other ways."

"We think this is an effective way to make classic content easily available to a broad range of players," the statement read. "Within these libraries, new and longtime players can not only find games they remember or have heard about, but other fun games they might not have thought to see out otherwise."

The statement came under fire from Nintendo fans on Twitter and is currently unavailable on Nintendo's website.

Nintendo has no plans to offer classic content in other ways. They believe the Switch Online Membership plans are an effective way to make classic content available

More info: https://t.co/oRRYap8cIl pic.twitter.com/OSQm0rfZOC

— Wario64 (@Wario64) February 16, 2022

PlayStation fans faced a similar predicament in 2021 when Sony announced that it was discontinuing support for the PS3 and Vita stores. In a remarkable reversal, though, Sony ultimately decided to keep the stores open, with CEO Jim Ryan saying that it was "clear that we made the wrong decision here."

Nintendo's decision to shutdown the 3DS and Wii U follows the closure of the Wii Shop, which shuttered in 2019. The Wii U's Miiverse, the system's online social service, also closed in 2017.

Nintendo's decision to remove access to digital releases once again raises questions about game preservation and other issues, which have become more persistent as physical releases have waned. For the most part, it's been up to the fans to maintain digital services after they are abandoned by platform holders. The Nintendo Switch will no doubt suffer a similar fate at some point in the future.

In the meantime, if you're feeling nostalgic, Nintendo is offering a service that allows you to see your Wii U and 3DS memories. You can also see our list of the 25 best Wii U games as well as the 25 best 3DS games. Use those lists to find the games that you want to download and keep, because they won't be easily accessible for much longer.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Paramount, formerly Viacom CBS, hit us with a deluge of news today. Among said news is A Quiet Place Part III, the third installment in John Krasinski's groundbreaking franchise that was first released in 2018.

The studio also confirmed that the currently untitled spinoff helmed by Michael Sarnoski, the director behind 2021's cult-favorite Pig starring Nicolas Cage, is still expected to hit in 2023.

The next installment of @quietplacemovie is coming next year & will be directed by Michael Sarnoski. And, #AQuietPlace Part III is coming in 2025. #ParamountPlus pic.twitter.com/im2R4jPwj5

— Paramount+ (@paramountplus) February 15, 2022

As far as A Quiet Place Part III goes, it will still be some time until we get an official synopsis on the project. However, it does feel safe to assume that the human survivors of Earth are headed towards all-out war with the creatures after the close of A Quiet Place Part II.

A Quiet Place Part III is currently credited to writers Scott Beck and Jeff Nichols, with John Krasinski still receiving a creator credit. At the time of this announcement, it is unclear who will be directing Part III for Paramount. However, given that Krasinski has directed the other two installments, it seems likely he'll be the one to close out the trilogy.

With A Quiet Place Part II managing to gross $297 million at the beginning of the pandemic (against the first installment's whopping $340.9 million), it's relatively safe to assume that Paramount will release Part III in theaters only. But, given the unpredictable nature of releases over the last couple of years, it's still anyone's guess. Regardless of the where and how A Quiet Place Part III will hit screens sometime in 2025.

To read more on Paramount's huge news day, check out South Park and Beavis and Butt-head Are Moving Exclusively to Paramount+ (but not until 2025), the Knuckles Spin-Off Series Announced With Idris Elba In Lead Role, and learn about the New Star Trek Movie with the J.J. Abrams Cast In the Works.

Amelia Emberwing is the streaming editor at IGN.