The temporal reference of this set dressing likely points to the fact that The Batman will be taking place in 2019, as opposed to its current filming year of 2020 or release year of 2022. Practically, this may have been chosen as a more relatable time period to set the film in. With 2020 being somewhat of an ‘irregular’ year, to say the least, and the state of 2022 being too far to comprehend, 2019 would be a fitting year that audiences can fully grasp.
As reported on by Comicbook.com, a new image of the set of The Batman was obtained by contributor Brandon Davis.
Davis noted that the image in-question was taken off the side of a taxi cab on the film’s Chicago set, featuring a Gotham City taxi logo with the year 2019
It looks like we know WHEN #TheBatman is taking place!
I took this photo on a “taxi cab” on the movie’s set in Chicago. https://t.co/w5zkMIuI74 pic.twitter.com/f4S38x0mrv
— BD (@BrandonDavisBD) October 17, 2020
This does indicate that this will be a modern iteration of Batman as opposed to setting the film in a past time period. This should allow director Matt Reeves the freedom to mold his own version of the Dark Knight, as opposed to retreading similar ground if he were to do a Batman film set in the 1980s, for example. It will be interesting to see what Batman can bring to the table in his detective work that the GCPD cannot achieve with modern technologies, such as fingerprint identification and constant surveillance.