The new Batman movie is called The Batman, which is how the character was billed in his first comic-book appearance 83 years ago. But it would be more accurate if they'd called it A Batman—since he's neither a continuation nor a revision nor a follow-on to all previous Batmen. He's a variation. Batman is still a rich guy named Bruce Wayne who's a vigilante with a sidekick butler named Alfred, but as the story begins, he's already in his second year wearing a cowl and a cape traipsing around Gotham City looking for bad guys.
We don't get to know how this Bruce started being a vigilante, how he fabricated what Jack Nicholson's Joker (back in 1989) called "those wonderful toys," how he developed superior fighting skills and driving skills and an engineering genius sufficient for him to jump...