New trailer for The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, has landed

The second trailer for Robert Pattinson's upcoming The Batman film debuted during online fan event DC Fandome on Sunday. Photo / Warner Bros

There are billowing capes and then there's the billowing cape in the new The Batman trailer.

It's truly a sight to behold – and it's definitely not going to get sucked into a jet engine.

The second trailer for Robert Pattinson's upcoming caped crusader film debuted during online fan event DC Fandome on Sunday morning (AEDT) and it's packed with teases of what to expect when the film finally hits cinemas in March.

And what you should expect is a grim and sombre (he is called the Dark Knight for a reason) superhero epic in which Batman faces off against two iconic villains, Riddler and Penguin.

Paul Dano's Riddler has Gotham chasing its tail with his Zodiac Killer-esque puzzles and threats, including "what's black and blue and dead all over?".

The trailer also reveals more of Colin Farrell's Penguin (he speaks!) as well as Zoe Kravitz's Catwoman. There are also tastes of the requisite explosions and car chases and lots of slow-motion concerned looks.

Yes, everyone is very, very worried about the state of affairs – think Mark McGowan when he sees an incoming passenger card. Sacre bleu!

Directed by Matt Reeves, the movie also stars Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, plus Barry Keoghan and Rupert Penry-Jones.

Zoe Kravitz will star as Selina Kyle - aka Catwoman - in The Batman, also starring Colin Farrell as Penguin and Paul Dano as Riddler. Photo / Warner Bros.

Pattinson will be the third actor to play a live action version of Batman this century, following Christian Bale in the Christopher Nolan trilogy and Ben Affleck in the Zack Snyder movies.

Michael Keaton, who portrayed the character twice in Tim Burton's 1989 and 1992 movies, will reprise the role in the upcoming The Flash movie.

Affleck was originally to star in, write and direct The Batman when he put on the cowl for Batman vs. Superman, but stepped off the project in 2017.

After Affleck's exit, The Batman was reconfigured to tell the story of a younger Bruce Wayne who had yet to be a fully formed fighter and compromised hero.

Reeves co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Craig, drawing inspiration from comics Year One, Batman: The Long Halloween and Ego.

The Batman started filming in January 2020 and faced several production delays because of Covid, and had its release date shifted twice.

Pattinson was an unconventional choice for the role, having primarily made smaller, often independent films after breaking out in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and reaching heart-throb status in the Twilight series.

Among his credits in the past decade are David Michod's The King, Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse, the Safdie brothers' Good Time, Brady Corbet's The Childhood of a Leader, Claire Denis' High Life and David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis.

He also starred in Nolan's Tenet last year.

• The Batman will land in NZ cinemas in March, 2022.