The Batman Characters: Mayor Don Mitchell Jr.

Last Updated on March 14, 2022 by Lil Ginge

Mayor Don Mitchell Jr. (played by Rubert Penry-Jones)  is a character in the new Batman reboot movie The Batman. The film, directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) stars Robert Pattinson (Good Time, Tenet) in the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman. The film centers around The Riddler’s killing spree of Gotham’s corrupt elite class in the city. 

At the beginning of The Batman, Mayor Don Mitchell Jr. is Mayor of Gotham City and running for reelection. He becomes the first victim of serial killer The Riddler. Mitchell’s murder directly sets up all of the subsequent events of the film as The Batman tries to solve the mysteries surrounding The Riddler’s killings.

Don Mitchell is an original character created by director Reevesfor his reboot of The Batman franchise. Of course, there have been Mayors in prior incarnations of The Batman on film, including Mayor Garcia of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. But no Mayor of a Batman movie has ever featured so prominently in the plot or events of the film.

Who Is The Batman’s Mayor Don Mitchell Jr.?

At the beginning of The Batman, The Riddler waits and watches as Mayor Mitchell’s wife and child leave to go Trick or Treating for Halloween. After Mitchell’s family has left the Mayoral residence, Riddler enters the premises and murders the Mayor, covering the Mayor’s face completely in duct tape with the words “No More Lies” scrawled in blood-red on his face. Mayor Mitchell was in the middle of serving out his third term as Mayor during the time of his murder by The Riddler’s and Mitchell was in the process of running for re-election for his fourth time. 

While there has been speculation that Mayor Mitchell’s son is destined to become Robin in The Batman universe, this rumor is pure speculation and not the concept Matt reeves had in mind. However, Reeves acknowledged that making Mitchell’s son Robin is a cool idea.

The role of Don Mitchell Jr. is played by Rupert Penry-Jones, a 51-year old British actor known for his roles in Spooks, Silk, Whitechapel, and The Strain. Penry-Jones has a theater background, portraying roles in plays including Hamlet, The Play About the Baby, Timon of Athens, and more. Whitechapel is a three-part television thriller about the copycat murders of Jack the Ripper.

Mayor Mitchell and the Watergate Scandal

It is worth noting that two of the characters in The Batman, Mayor Mitchell and District Attorney Gil Colson, share names with real-world politicians who were indicted in the Watergate Scandal that torpedoed the Nixon Administration. John M. Mitchell was Nixon’s Attorney General, and Charles Colson was Special Counsel to President Nixon.

More About The Batman

The Batman was released on March 4, 2022, and stars Robert Pattinson in the role of the caped crusader. It is the first solo Batman film since Christopher Nolan’s (Inception, Dunkirk) monster hit The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. The plot of the film revolves around The Batman’s second year on the job as he desperately tries to solve the mysteries surrounding the Riddler’s serial killings.

Production Companies behind The Batman include DC Films, a subunit of WarnerMedia / Warner Bros. Pictures, and 6th & Idaho Productions. 6th & Idaho Productions is Matt Reeves’s film production company. DC Films is the driving force behind movies based on DC Comics characters. Upcoming movies from DC Films include Black Adam, The Flash, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

In addition to Pattinson and Penry-Jones, The Batman stars:

• Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon
• Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle
• Colin Farrell as Oz
• Paul Dano as The Riddler
• and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone

The Batman was developed after Ben Affleck, who played Batman / Bruce Wayne in several films including Justice League, dropped out of writing and directing his own solo Batman film. After Matt Reeves was hired on, Affleck soon dropped out of the starring role as well and Matt Reeves set about completely rebooting the Batman character on film.

If you enjoyed this article about Mayor Mitchell in The Batman, check out my recent article about the character Carmine Falcone.