Fans waiting for Matt Reeves’ The Batman – Part 2 received bad news recently. Initially meant to arrive in October 2025, the sequel will now only release a full year later in 2026. By this time, there will be a four-and-a-half-year gap between the first Robert Pattinson-led Dark Knight picture and the follow-up. It isn’t unusual in the comic book movie genre to have such a long wait since there was a good four-year gap between Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012); however, there are other concerns surrounding the future of this standalone universe in the grand scheme of greater DC films.
Where’s Matt Reeves’ script for The Batman – Part 2?
The biggest red flag right now is that there’s no script for The Batman – Part 2. As recently as February 2024, Jeffrey Wright, who plays Jim Gordon in The Batman, confirmed to Variety he hasn’t received a script for the film yet, so where is it? The sequel was confirmed in April 2022, while Reeves and Mattson Tomlin were officially confirmed to write the script in August 2022.
Now, of course, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes took place from May to November 2023, which would have impacted Reeves and Tomlin’s ability to work on the script. But surely, they must have worked on it beforehand and in the period after the strikes if they planned on getting in front of the cameras in 2024. While Reeves took the time to get the script right for the first film and the pandemic afforded even more time to refine it, logic would dictate it would be all systems go for the sequel and to get it done as quickly as possible. Especially since The Batman is one of the few DC projects in the past few years to turn a decent profit and receive glowing reviews from fans and critics.
Yet, nearly two years after the sequel was announced and months before the film was meant to start production, there’s no script. Hmm…
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Has Reeves departed the movie?
While insiders are stating the main reason for The Batman – Part 2′s delay is due to the lack of availability for stages at Warner Bros. – another knock-on effect of the strikes – it does seem strange the studio would rather delay a mega tentpole than another planned film. That said, this is Warner Bros. and weirder decisions have been made.
What remains concerning, though, is Matt Reeves’ silence. While he appeared more than happy to discuss The Batman and everything surrounding it, he’s been relatively silent on the sequel. It does lead one to wonder if he’s still involved in the project or if he quietly slipped out the back door and the studio is biding its time to think of a way to spin the news. After all, Warner Bros. is the same company that said Ben Affleck would be starring and directing The Batman for months even after it became the worst-kept secret that he tapped out.
But why would Reeves depart the universe he’s overseeing? That’s an easy question to answer. When Reeves accepted the chance to make The Batman, he made it clear to Warner Bros. that this is a standalone. He didn’t want to connect it to any other movies or play in the cinematic universe sandbox. Reeves told Esquire in January 2022: “I said, ‘Here’s the thing: I respect that the DC Universe has become an extended universe and all the movies were kind of connected. But another Batman film, it shouldn’t have to carry the weight of connecting the characters from all those other movies.’ I didn’t want them in there.”
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A lot has changed at DC and Warner Bros. since then, with James Gunn and Peter Safran leading the charge of a new era. At the same time, they have also cancelled a few of the projects planned by the old regime in an effort to bring synergy to the world of DC. Gunn has gone on record to state that Reeves didn’t want his Batman to be part of the new DC Universe (DCU), and they’re allowing him to do his own thing.
That said, it’s clear there’s oversight taking place at DC Studios, and maybe the initial plans that Reeves had for the sequel were ixnayed by Gunn and Safran. It could be something as simple as them wanting to use similar villains or characters for the DCU’s Batman or a bigger problem like similar plots. For a filmmaker of Reeves’ calibre and stature, he isn’t going to sit around and wait for years while Warner Bros. and DC figure out what they want to do and fall in line. Instead, he’ll walk.
What are the chances that Robert Pattinson’s Batman is no more?
If Matt Reeves is gone, it’ll be a tough sell to continue The Batman without him. After all, the only reason it exists in its own vacuum is because Reeves didn’t want to play in the greater universe. As a result, DC and Warner Bros. have two choices: Either integrate Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight into the DCU or call it a day on the sequel.
By delaying the film by a year, it looks like the studio could be buying time before deciding what to do next or just not wanting to break any bad news to the fans at a time when nearly everyone has lost faith in DC films. What’s certain, though, is that the future doesn’t look rosy for Matt Reeves’ The Batman – Part 2.
The Batman: Part II |
|---|
n/a |
| Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Running Time: n/a |
| Release Date: October 2, 2026 |
| Cast: n/a |
| Director: Matt Reeves |
| Writers: Matt Reeves, Mattson Tomlin |
| Genre: Action, Crime, Drama |
| Box Office: n/a |
