Batman Fans Think The Batman Part II Secretly Confirmed a Villain We’ve Never Seen in a Movie

Cameras are now rolling on The Batman: Part II, and the hype for the sequel film is already high. Director Matt Reeves announced the start of production by posting an entire week of teaser images related to the film. Those teases included Reeves revealing that the next chapter of The Batman will (at least in part) be set during a snowy winter, as well as confirming half a dozen new cast members and the entire lineup of returning actors.

However, there are a lot of DC fans who believe that Matt Reeves was sneaking in more insights than we initially saw. In fact, some fans think Reeves snuck in a reveal about who The Batman: Part II will feature as its villain. Did you spot it? Or is the internet just internetting again?

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The Batman Part II Officially Confirms 5 New Cast Members

Is Brian Tyree Henry The Villain of The Batman: Part II?

New cast members for The Batman: Part II that Matt Reeves revealed include Sebastian Stan (Thunderbolts*) as Harvey Dent, Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) as his wife, Gilda Dent, and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) as Harvey’s father, Christopher Dent. There were also two surprising new casting reveals: Homeland actor Sebastian Koch and Marvel’s Eternals star Brian Tyree Henry.

There’s been a lot of speculation about who Henry and Koch are playing. Reeves’ caption on the post announcing Koch reads “Locked and loaded for Gotham…”. It could fairly be read as a reference to a police officer, and, given Koch’s look, some believe he is going to be the Harvey Bullock to Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon. Henry, however, is much more of an “X Factor” in this whole thing. However, some fans think that Matt Reeves posting this image last wasn’t a coincidence: Some fans think that Brian Tyree Henry’s placement at the end of the announcements suggests he is actually playing the main villain in The Batman: Part II. And not just any villain, but one of the wildest Batman foes who has never made it into the films.

Is Man-Bat the Villain of The Batman: Part II?

The theory is that Matt Reeves’ GIF of Brian Tyree Henry, along with the caption, “Welcome to the party, man…” is a reference to Man-Bat, and that the GIF image of Henry on a city street, doing a gesture like a bat’s wings flapping, further backs up the theory. On his Instagram, Henry posted “Bat’s out the bag” on his repost of Reeves’ announcement, further fueling theories that the wordplay is deeper than just cheesy bat-puns.

In DC lore, “Man-Bat” is the name of the monstrous werewolf-style transformation of Dr. Kurt Langstrom. No matter the version of the story, Langstrom was a talented scientist studying bats for their potential biological benefits to medical science. Langstrom developed a serum, which was supposed to enhance human beings, but when he tested it on himself, he was instead transformed into a human-bat hybrid creature, and terrorized the skies and streets of Gotham City as the “Man-Bat.” Batman routinely has to deal with Langstrom’s “relapses,” and injects Man-Bat with the antidote that can restore his mind and/or humanity. Over the years, Langstrom has pulled his wife, Francine, into his monstrous curse by transforming her into “She-Bat.” Langstrom has also used versions of his serum that keep his mind intact after transformation, which has allowed him to serve on anti-hero teams like the Suicide Squad and Justice League Dark.

Man-Bat was also the first villain that DC fans got to see in Batman: The Animated Series, as the pilot episode “On Leather Wings” is the Man-Bat origin story. The episode saw Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock, and Harvey Dent all in conflict about whether or not Batman is responsible for Man-Bat’s crimes, while Batman tries to investigate Langstrom and learn the truth about his brazen string of robberies. That’s all to say: “On Leather Wings” is a story that could be adapted for Matt Reeves’ Batman Universe – including the creature-feature aspect of Man-Bat’s transformation. Or, Reeves could once again drastically change our understanding of Kurt Langstrom and how his serum is used.

Do you think Brian Tyree Henry is the main villain of The Batman: Part II? And do you think he’s playing Kurt Langstrom/Man-Bat? Let us know on the ComicBook Forum!