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The recent film history of everyone's favorite bat-themed vigilante has been chaotic, to say the least. After the phenomenal and almost unrepeatable high of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, whoever donned the Batsuit after Christian Bale was bound to be under a lot of pressure. That rang true with the DCEU's version of Bruce Wayne played by Ben Affleck. Despite initial backlash, Affleck was an overall solid Batman in terms of his performance, but the ultra-violent version of him seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017) rubbed many fans the wrong way. With DC's first attempt at creating a connected cinematic universe being messy and controversial, it was clear that the next Batman needed a clean slate. Thankfully, we got that with Matt Reeves's The Batman (2022), which introduced a brutal and gritty version of Gotham City complete with one of the darkest stories ever to be seen in a Batman film.
Critics and fans alike praised the neo-noir detective take on The Dark Knight for its gorgeous visuals and audio, gripping and visceral action sequences, and some incredible performances from Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, and Paul Dano. Thus, the Matt Reeves "Batverse" was born in spectacular fashion, with plans for various sequels and spin-off shows being planned. However, there was concern that, amid the ongoing Warner Bros and DC shakeups that led to shock moves like the cancelation of Batgirl, the Batverse would be another casualty. Those fears were put to rest on January 31, 2023, when DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn not only announced the upcoming slate of DC content but also made explicitly clear that Matt Reeves's vision for Batman will remain untouched. Now being branded as an "Elseworlds" storyline, the now officially titled The Batman - Part II (2025) is still very much in development, and the same thing applies to the various spin-offs that were announced shortly after the first film's release. This is fantastic news for fans of the first film, but now we have two years to wait for Robert Pattinson to return to the role of Bruce Wayne.
To find out what details have been made known about the second installment in the trilogy, here is everything we know so far about The Batman - Part II.
Editor's Note: This article was last updated on June 12 with the latest casting details.
Is There a Trailer for The Batman - Part II?
Not currently, and odds are it will be quite some time until we see any kind of footage for The Batman - Part II. Filming hasn't even begun on the anticipated project and likely won't until late 2023 at the earliest. The closest thing we have to any promotional material is James Gunn's below address where he explains what we can expect to see from the DC Universe's "Gods and Monsters' phase:
When Is The Batman - Part II Releasing?
The Batman - Part II is currently scheduled to release on October 3, 2025, however, this could be subject to delays (more on that below). The Batman made over 700 million dollars at the global box office following its theatrical release, so it should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody that The Batman - Part II will be following suit with a theatrical premiere. Warner Bros' signature streaming service, HBO Max, will also undoubtedly become the streaming home for The Batman - Part II once its theatrical run is over. In case you'd like to rewatch the first film to celebrate the sequel's confirmation, here's the link to stream it on HBO Max:
When Is The Batman - Part II Filming?
Thanks to an update from The Batman executive producer Michael Uslan, we know that The Batman - Part II was set to begin filming on November 23, 2023. However, this is no longer the case, as the sequel is among the latest projects to be hit with filming delays as a result of the ongoing WGA Writers' Strike. Production on the film has now been delayed to 2024. You can find out more about the reasons behind the strike in this article. No word yet on where filming will take place other than the fact that at least some scenes will be shot in London. The first movie was shot primarily in the UK, with some scenes filmed in Chicago, so the sequel could return to the same locations.
Who's In the Cast of The Batman - Part II?
It's safe to say that Robert Pattinson is practically confirmed to return as the titular hero for The Batman - Part II, officially ensuring that the star of The Lighthouse (2019) will remain as this film's version of The Caped Crusader despite a new Batman coming to the main DCU. Other characters like Jim Gordon (Jeffery Wright), Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Penguin (Colin Farrell), the Riddler (Paul Dano), and more have not yet been confirmed to return but at least some of them should be back in the sequel. According to recent reports, The Batman - Part II will feature fan-favorite character Harvey Dent aka Two-Face, with the casting race for the role down to two names: Joel Edgerton and Josh Hartnett. While we're still waiting for the official announcement of who will take on the role, either of them could be a great choice to bring this iconic character to life in the sequel.
Will There Be a The Batman - Part III?
It's been confirmed that The Batman - Part II is the middle of a planned trilogy, meaning that we can expect at least one more film to conclude the current story. It makes sense that James Gunn and Peter Safran would want to conclude Reeves's series to prevent confusion and overlap with the main DCU, but it remains to be seen if Part III will be the end of this version of Batman or just the conclusion to a particular arc. With so many spin-off shows and movies being planned, it seems possible that Reeves has plans to continue this universe beyond the main planned trilogy. The two we know for sure are in development are The Penguin (2023), which will see Oswald Cobblepot's rise through Gotham's criminal and will directly lead into Part II, and a currently untitled Arkham Asylum series, which will take a look into Gotham's notorious mental institution and its infamous patients.
Do We Know Anything About the Plot of The Batman - Part II?
Not much, but the "Part II" in the sequel's title does offer some hints as to what we can expect. The basic subtitle shows that this will in some way be a more direct continuation of Batman's story from the last film. That may not sound specific, but Bruce Wayne found himself just at the start of an existential crisis when he learned about the shady past of his parents, and how they were indirectly responsible for the death of a journalist. With his view of his perfect parents now shattered, he's decided that Batman can't just be something for Gotham's criminals to fear; he also must be a symbol for Gotham's citizens to look up to. We're also likely to see some of the consequences of the Riddler's scheme from the first movie, which left Gotham submerged and caused massive destruction across the city.
Who Will Be the Villain of The Batman - Part II?
Batman easily has the best rogue's gallery of any hero in comics history, and we got only a taste of that with the first film. In The Batman, we saw our hero tangle with the hysterical Penguin (Colin Farrell), outsmart the unsettling Riddler (Paul Dano), and even get a brief tease of his greatest enemy of all, the Joker (Barry Keoghan). All of these iconic foes survived their encounters with the Bat and could very easily return to cause trouble in the sequel, but Matt Reeves has also teased that some other villains will be joining his Batverse. Back in October 2022, it was reported that Reeves has also been working on spin-offs focusing on other villains like the horrifying Scarecrow, the psychotic Professor Pig, and the shape-shifting Clayface. It's more than possible that we could see them pop up in Part II or one of the already-announced spin-off shows.
We also got some teases for two other major Batman foes in The Batman. One brief one comes in the first film's final battle when Batman injects himself with a mysterious green liquid that appears to function as a stimulant to get him back in the fight. This could very easily be a nod to one of Batman's strongest foes, Bane, who infamously uses the green liquid drug Venom to enhance his strength and "Break the Bat". The second tease is a bit more blatant. When Bruce sees Riddler's revealing video in the orphanage, we see a big bold four-letter word pop on-screen: "Hush". Hush is also the name of a classic Batman villain who has yet to make his live-action feature debut. Born Thomas Elliot in the comics, the bandaged villain was once a friend of Bruce Wayne but his opposite in personality, wanting to murder his own parents rather than adoring them like Wayne. Not to mention, Hush has a historic connection to Riddler in the comics and Riddler's victims in the movie bear a resemblance to Hush's iconic design. The real key comes when we learn the name of the journalist that died due to Bruce's parents, whose last name just so happens to be Elliot.
It could honestly be one or any of these villains that becomes the next main antagonist for The Batman franchise. The addition of Harvey Dent definitely sets up the character to take on a villainous role, either in The Batman - Part II or its sequel. Or perhaps we might even see a cold-hearted scientist come to town and become Mr. Freeze. Also, and this is a long shot, Nicolas Cage has expressed interest in playing the villain Egghead. Anyone up for a bald Nic Cage toting egg-themed gadgets?
Who Is Making The Batman - Part II?
Once again, Matt Reeves is in the driver's seat as the film's writer/director. Reeves has been a major force in the filmmaking world, having made the last two Planet of the Apes films, the original Cloverfield (2008), and of course, The Batman. Mattson Tomlin, who assisted with the writing of the first film and is set to write for the Keanu Reeves comic book film BRZRKR, has also been announced as a writer for The Batman - Part II. The rest of the film's crew has not yet been disclosed, but we can hopefully expect to see Greig Fraser return as the cinematographer and Michael Giacchino as the composer for the sequel, considering their acclaimed work on the first one.
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