The Batman is officially a major hit at both the box office and Matt Reeves has won over DC fans with the vision of his Batman reboot. But what’s coming next? DC and Warner Bros. have been pursuing an ambitious plan to turn The Batman into an entire franchise universe – even before the first film got to theaters. However, after the big box office success of The Batman, some of the plans for the franchise have now changed.
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Here’s the latest on what’s next for The Batman franchise:
Spinoffs Before Sequel
As stated, DC and WB had multimedia franchise universe plans for The Batman in place before the film ever hit theaters. The first idea that we heard was that there would be an HBO Max series that focused on the Gotham Police Department and its cops, without Batman’s involvement. Given the dark film noir version of Gotham City director Matt Reeves conceived for The Batman, it seemed like a more traditional cop-noir story could definitely work in helping to expand that world.
However, now that The Batman is out, it doesn’t seem like the Gotham P.D. series is still in the works. Matt Reeves confirmed as much in an interview:
“One thing that we were going to do, that I was going to do…so there’s the Gotham Police show, that one has actually been put on hold, we’re not really doing that,” Reeves told the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “The series was going to be kind of like Prince of the City where it was going to be Year One. Because the movie is Year Two and I wanted it to be the first appearance [of Batman], but it wasn’t going to be a Batman story. It was going to be about this corrupt cop and it was going to be about how the worst gang in Gotham were the GCPD. He was going to have crossed paths with Gordon, who would have been someone to measure him against, but it would be a battle for his soul. I loved this idea!”
Instead of a series about Gotham’s cops, it seems that The Batman spinoff series will instead be focusing on Gotham’s crazies, in Arkham Asylum:
“The GCDP thing, that story has kinda evolved. We’ve actually now [moved] more into the realm of exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham as it relates coming off of our movie, and some of the characters… almost leaning into the idea of… it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham,” Matt Reeves told The Cyber Nerds.
In addition to a series focused on Arkham Asylum, The Batman’s breakout favorite – Colin Farrell’s Penguin – will be getting his own spinoff series for HBO Max. Ironically, Matt Reeves told Variety that The Penguin series will be covering story ground he had originally envisioned for The Batman sequel – so where does that leave things?
The Batman 2
The Batman 2 has not been officially announced yet – but with the way Matt Reeves, Robert Pattinson, and other cast and crew have been talking, it won’t be a surprise if this section gets an update soon.
What Will The Batman 2 Be About?
We’ve broken down all the different Batman stories The Batman ending sets up for a sequel – check that out for the full breakdown. The short version is that by the end of The Batman, The Joker (Barry Keoghan) is introduced; Gotham City is left in a state that resembles the famous “No Man’s Land” story from the comics, and fans think a setup for Bane was snuck into the film, as well. An online post-credits scene teases Batman villain Hush as a possibility, while Matt Reeves, Robert Pattinson, and others involved with The Batman have also expressed a wish(?) to see the Court of Owls emerge in the next movie.
Right now, all those possibilities seem like they are viable and exciting – save one. Reeves has made it clear that his Joker Easter egg in The Batman is NOT a setup for The Batman 2:
“I thought it’d be really neat if so much of the fabric of Gotham just already existed,” Reeves told Variety. “And it was like an old Warner Bros. gangster movie and if you took a certain turn, you might see a character in his origins.”
“I never was trying to say like, ‘Hey, guess what, here’s the Joker. Next movie!’” he continued. “The idea was more to say, ‘Hey, look, if you think that trouble is going to go away in Gotham, you can forget it. It’s already here. And it’s already delicious.’”
Hopefully, some early teases for The Batman 2 come with the sequel’s (inevitable) announcement.
DC’s Batman Multiverse
The Batman franchise is its own standalone DC Universe – but the Batman brand will continue to extend well beyond Matt Reeves’ world.
The Batman is only the first Batman-themed movie coming in 2022: HBO Max has a Batgirl movie in the works starring Leslie Grace as Batgirl and Brendan Fraser as Firefly; Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton will both re-don their Batsuits in The Flash movie; and Keanu Reeves will get to voice an animated Batman in DC’s League of Super Pets movie.
It’s a good time to be a Batman fan.
