No, this isn't a movie about the Caped Crusader flighting the American Psycho.
Batman Vs. Bateman is a commercial by State Farm Insurance. It was released on 11 March 2025.
While set in the Batman universe, unfortunately the city of Gotham is being protected by Jason Bateman instead of the Caped Crusader. Also features Jake from State Farm.
It can be viewed here
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State Farm has since released a series of other commercials continuing the premise.
See also the Batman OnStar Commercials. An earlier series of commercials featuring the Caped Crusader promoting the OnStar car assistance service.
This work provides examples of:
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: Bateman's surname is pronounced Bate-MAN.
- Action Survivor: Bateman is a normal citizen who is supposed to take up the mantle of an action hero. All of the villains overpower him with no effort and without him impeding them or their plans in any way whatsoever.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Joker is seen briefly laughing and walking out of frame in the opening seconds before detonating a car bomb behind him. He doesn't reappear until the end after he leads Bateman into a trap.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Bateman is too distracted by how hot Catwoman is to stop her jewel store robbery. Not that he would have probably had much luck if he tried. He's not any better at resisting Poison Ivy either, although she uses pheromones.
- Last Words: When Two Face asks Bateman if he has any last words, he replies, "Just one: Dermatologist."
- Offing the Mouth: When captured by the Riddler, Bateman keeps cutting off the former's attempt at a monologue by pre-empting his riddles until the Riddler just gets fed up and orders his mook to throw Bateman off the roof.
- Poor Man's Substitute: The entire joke is that Bateman is a really poor substitute for the real Batman, giving Gotham's supervillains free rein and letting them rampage through the city with impunity until the real Batman shows up.Batman: Go home, Bateman! Go do a podcast or something!
- Race Lift:
- Much like in The Batman (2022) and Batman: Caped Crusader, Commissioner Gordon is black.
- Catwoman is usually a European ethnicity or Cuban, but here, like other recent versions, she is played by black woman SZA.
- Schmuck Bait: While infiltrating an abandoned warehouse, Bateman notices a Big Red Button and is tempted to push it. Batman advises him not to, which only makes it even bigger bait for Bateman.
- Self-Deprecation: Involving people who need Batman instead of Bateman, but featuring Jason Bateman himself.
- Super Loser: Bateman is comically bad as both a superhero and defender of Gotham City. Jason Bateman is a good comedian, but not physically fit, not trained in any combat styles, Wrong Genre Savvy and easily Distracted by the Sexy. Good thing Gotham has plenty of State Farm insurance.
- Villain Team-Up: The Joker, the Riddler, Two-Face, and Poison Ivy appear to have teamed up to take down Bateman.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: When he is captured by the Joker, Bateman seems to think that he is dealing with a Non-Ironic Clown instead of a Monster Clown.