In an alternate timeline, The Batman: Part II is releasing today, October 3rd, 2025. Unfortunately, this is not that timeline. The Batman was a big success when it was released back on March 4th, 2022. The movie was a hit with critics, earning an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and even more importantly, it was a hit with audiences. The film earned $772 million at the box office and, as the first solo Bat-movie since The Dark Knight Rises, set up an exciting new future for the Caped Crusader. A sequel was a no-brainer and announced the following month, but it’s taken a surprisingly long time to arrive.
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Part II was initially pencilled in for 2025, three-and-a-half years after the first movie was released, which is a fairly common timetable for a superhero movie sequel. However, it was then pushed back to October 2nd, 2026, and subsequently to October 1st, 2027, a release date that, so far, seems to be sticking. While frustrating to fans, the reasons behind the delays are simple and understandable: the WGA strike of 2023 delayed Matt Reeves and Mattson Tomlin’s ability to work on the script and, since then, it has just taken a long time to get right.
Reeves hasn’t rushed things, and instead has taken a good while to figure out where to take the story and ensure the script is in the best shape possible before getting ready to shoot. It’s merely a matter of process, and some take longer than others. The Batman 2‘s script was finished in June 2025, though even that doesn’t mean it can immediately start filming. With schedules needing to be lined up and pre-production work commencing, shooting is expected to begin on the movie in spring 2026, which should allow plenty of time to hit that October 2027 release date.
Matt Reeves Has Revealed Multiple Details About The Batman 2
Since finishing the script, Reeves has made up for lost time by sharing several updates on what to expect from The Batman 2. He obviously hasn’t veered into spoiler territory, but has nonetheless given us some indication of where the story is going, including:
- The Batman: Part II is not part of the DCU, but rather an Elseworlds story. There has long been speculation about whether Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight could join James Gunn’s new universe, but Reeves has definitively quashed this.
- Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) will not appear in the movie, despite The Penguin‘s ending suggesting it could happen, not to mention the character’s immediate popularity thanks to that TV show.
- The story will venture into territory that hasn’t been done before with Batman/Bruce Wayne, and in particular, will be diving deeper into the latter side of the character.
- The villain will be somebody new, who has “never really been done” in a movie.
Reeves most likely means a live-action movie, but it would mean Barry Keoghan’s Joker won’t be the main villain of The Batman 2. Possible candidates for who the villain(s) could be include Hush, Hugo Strange, or the Court of Owls. - The Batman 3 is not yet a guaranteed thing, with the focus very much on the first sequel, though the director hopes this will be a trilogy.
Although the lack of Sofia is a little disappointing, given she’s one of the best DC villains we’ve seen on screen, the rest of those updates are all very promising. It suggests that, while The Batman: Part II has taken a long time to come together, good art cannot (and should not) be rushed, and this is going to be worth the wait.
The Batman is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
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