Matthew Perry‘s love of Batman ran deep.
The actor, who died unexpectedly on Saturday on the age of 54, lengthy felt a connection to the caped crusader. It was a via line to the very finish of his life, as his last social media posts referenced the superhero and he playfully dubbed himself “Mattman.”
Like many others, his fandom started when he was a toddler. Within the Buddies star’s 2022 memoir, Buddies, Lovers, and the Large Horrible Factor, wherein he opened up about his lengthy wrestle with alcohol and drug habit, Perry wrote about utilizing the superhero to attach together with his actor father.
“My dad was my hero. The truth is, he was my tremendoushero: at any time when we might go for walks, I’d say ‘you be Superman and I will be Batman,'” wrote Perry, whose dad and mom, and Suzanne Morrison, break up when he was younger, leaving him going backwards and forwards between the households, in Canada and Los Angeles.
His fandom grew from Christopher Nolan’s three Batman movies, starring : (2005), The Darkish Knight (2008) and The Darkish Knight Rises (2012), which have been his all-time faves. Robert Pattinson’s The Batman joined the listing when it got here out in 2022.
The concept of Batman rising once more was one Perry associated to on his habit journey. As detailed in his e book, he began consuming alcohol each day at age 18. His opioid abuse started in 1997 after a 1997 Jet Ski accident. He estimated that he spent $9 million on addiction treatments in his lifetime, together with 15 stints in rehab and 65 detoxes.
After surviving his colon rupturing in 2019 because of the opioid abuse, defying what doctors said was a “2% chance to live,” Perry left the hospital after a five-month keep. “I’m Batman,” he wrote in his e book about not simply surviving, however discovering gentle within the darkness of that ordeal. The e book’s last chapter — about feeling hopeful in any case he had gone via — was titled “Batman.” The ultimate phrases he wrote in it have been, “And when no matter occurs, simply assume, What would Batman do? and try this.”
In a GQ interview final 12 months, he defined what he meant by “I’m Batman,” saying, “Effectively, he is a wealthy loner. We each drive black, cool vehicles. “I do not clear up crime, however I’ve saved folks’s lives.”
The saving got here via sharing struggles in his e book to make different addicts not really feel alone. For years earlier than that, the actor who performed Chandler Bing stepped up as a sponsor for numerous different addicts, imparting his knowledge, taking their calls in any respect hours. He even briefly operated his own sober-living facility for men, Perry Home. On the time of his dying, he was within the strategy of starting a foundation to assist these with habit points.
Hank Azaria, one among Perry’s shut associates, shared on Instagram that Perry helped him get sober 17 years in the past, taking him to AA for the primary time. Perry estimated attending 6,000 AA conferences in his lifetime.
Whereas saving folks’s lives was a giant a part of the Batman connection, Perry was additionally only a superfan. Round 2012 or 2013, he constructed his first Batman room in his house.
Throughout Bale’s period, “I actually acquired into that,” Perry admitted on Jimmy Kimmel Reside in 2016. “And I am an insomniac, so within the m iddle of the evening, I simply go on eBay and purchase all this Batman stuff… However, I need to level out, it isn’t dorky. It is really a cool Batman room.”
In 2017, he spent $20 million for a ten,000-square-foot condominium in L.A.’s Century Metropolis that he remodeled to resemble the one Christian Bale’s Batman had in The Darkish Knight. “Bruce Wayne had a penthouse — I will have one,” he informed GQ of his thought course of.
Again on Kimmel in that 12 months, he talked about his “Batcave” and the most recent additions to his memorabilia assortment. He stated that he principally acquired Batman presents at that time.
He additionally confirmed off a few of his favourite Batman issues in a video interview with GQ. He had statues, motion figures, watches, sweatpants and even chosen his vehicles for his or her Batmobile-type qualities.
Nevertheless, in his e book, he wrote concerning the penthouse being a darkish gap and detriment to his sobriety as a result of he was “doing medicine and watching TV.” He informed GQ he realized it was “a silly mistake” and sold it — to Rihanna. The itemizing confirmed his screening room with Batman cued up. There have been additionally shelves of Batman stuff.
The sale was additionally timed to the end of his engagement to Molly Hurwitz, who moved out with their canine Alfred. (Perry additionally jokingly referred to his assistant as “Alfred,” the identify of Batman’s butler, in his e book.)
Perry ended up downsizing to a house in Pacific Palisades, which is the place he died. He did renovations on it previous to shifting and informed GQ that there could be a devoted Batman room in the home, which he dubbed “a Matt cave.” He stated it could have a pool desk, TV, black sofa and cabinets of his Batman memorabilia.
As for what he’d do in his Matt cave, ”You watch TV, you watch the Batman films. You play the Batman online game. There’s rather a lot to do,” he stated.
Perry was on and off with social media, however per week earlier than his dying he shared a flurry of posts from his new house, having only recently moved in, together with among the Batman touches. In a single video, there was a room with three completely different screens displaying The Batman. On the ceiling was the bat image.
He additionally had a lightweight on his pool.
An indication that stated “Batman performs pickleball,” which he had taken up — and was enjoying shortly earlier than he was discovered useless.
His Batman pumpkin.
In his last two posts, he wrote, “I am Mattman.”
A source told People magazine, Perry was “extremely blissful” in his last days in his new house, and his Mattman posts stemmed from an concept the actor had been engaged on for a sequence.
“He was having enjoyable,” stated the supply.
The journal’s editor, Wendy Naugle, said on Today, “He was writing slightly script, that is the place the ‘Mattman’ reference comes from in his Instagram.” He had additionally simply signed on to behave in a brand new drama movie, Unworthy, which was on maintain because of the strike.
Since his dying, among the social media tributes to him have additionally been a nod to his love of Batman, together with one from his former assistant Briana Brancato that ended with, “I hope that up there, within the nice past, Mattman is sending us indicators. We really want them. You will eternally be in my coronary heart.”
