“A Total Accident”: Michael Giacchino Reveals How Nirvana Became Such a Big Part of The Batman’s Score (EXCLUSIVE)
Released in 2022, The Batman paired Robert Pattinson’s brooding take on Bruce Wayne with director Matt Reeves’ meticulous vision for a noir-driven Gotham City. Every technical element of the production worked in tandem to build that atmosphere, from Greig Fraser’s shadow-heavy cinematography to Reeves’ own screenplay, co-written with Peter Craig, which reframed the Caped Crusader as a reclusive detective rather than a swaggering playboy. That vision extended into the film’s action sequences, staged with a grittier sense of danger than prior franchise entries, and it helped the film receive almost universal critical acclaim on its way to a $772 million worldwide box office haul. Of course, one of the most memorable pieces of that puzzle came from composer Michael Giacchino, whose score became inseparable from the film’s identity, particularly through its unexpected marriage with a decades-old grunge anthem by Nirvana, “Something in the Way.”
“That was a total accident,” Michael Giacchino told ComicBook in an exclusive interview at San Diego Comic-Con, where the composer was promoting his work on Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn. “Those two things happened independently of each other. The theme was written way before. Like a year before they were even shooting. It was like done a long time before. And it was done actually when I was working on the first Spider-Man movie.”
While the theme for The Batman was ready long before the Nirvana song got added to the mix, the two tracks work well together because they echo similar themes. As Giacchino explains, “because Matt Reeves and I had been talking about this, and so for me, all I kept thinking about was like, ‘Oh, what would it be like to be Batman if I’m sitting there on the top of the roof, looking out over Gotham City? What does that feel like?’ And I felt sort of lonely and sort of sad, and I came up with that theme. And then when they decided to put the Nirvana song, they just sort of lay on top of each other because of a similar chord progression that happens at one moment in the thing, and it just became magic, like, ‘Oh, well, that works.’”
Michael Giacchino Will Join the Team of The Batman Part II
The Batman‘s score earned Giacchino a Grammy nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and turned “Something in the Way” into one of the most streamed pieces of movie music of 2022. Although neither DC Studios nor Warner Bros. made an official announcement about the composer’s return for the sequel, both he and director Reeves have confirmed in interviews and on social media that they intend to repeat the collaboration. A return for The Batman Part II would mark the sixth Reeves project scored by Giacchino, following Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes.
Giacchino joins a mostly returning ensemble for The Batman Part II, which brings back Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), and Bella Reál (Jayme Lawson), alongside newcomers Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Charles Dance, and Sebastian Koch. ZoĂ« Kravitz’s Selina Kyle will not appear in the follow-up, which also doesn’t feature The Penguin’s surprise sensation Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti). None of the newcomers have had their roles officially disclosed, although rumors circulate about the presence of Poison Ivy, Harvey Dent, Zsasz, and even the Court of Owls. Reeves and Warner Bros. have kept the plot almost entirely under wraps, confirming only that the story resumes during the winter following the catastrophic flooding of Gotham City depicted at the end of the first film.
The Batman Part II was originally dated for October 3, 2025, before the 2023 Hollywood strikes pushed it back to October 2, 2026. Warner Bros. shifted the release again to October 1, 2027, before finally settling on its current date of February 18, 2028, nearly six years after the original film’s theatrical run. Production is already underway in the United Kingdom, and the studio’s repeated recalibration underscores how much weight Reeves and Warner Bros. are placing on the sequel, giving Giacchino, contract or not, ample time to build on the sound he established for Gotham the first time around.
The Batman Part II is scheduled to be released in theaters on February 18, 2028.
Are you surprised that Nirvana’s role in The Batman‘s score came together by chance? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
