Back in May, The Batman - Part II director Matt Reeves officially announced the main cast for his long-awaited sequel on social media.
The filmmaker confirmed that Robert Pattinson (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Jeffrey Wright (Jim Gordon), Andy Serkis (Alfred Pennyworth), Colin Farrell (Oz Cobb/The Penguin), Jayme Lawson (Bella Réal) and Gil Perez-Abraham (Officer Martinez) will reprise their roles, alongside new cast members Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Charles Dance, Sebastian Koch and Brian Tyree Henry.
Reeves did not reveal the characters Gotham City's new additions will play, but we had been led to believe that Stan has been cast as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Johansson as his wife, Gilda, and Dance as his father, Christopher.
Rumors soon circulated that this may not be the case, however, as The Hot Mic's Jeff Sneider said he'd heard that Stan is playing a different villain entirely, while Dance has been cast as the father of Johansson's character. More recently, Sneider followed up by claiming that Stan will actually play twisted serial killer Victor Zsasz, and Brian Tyree Henry will play Harvey Dent.
Now, a photo of Stan with his head shaved has convinced a lot of fans that he has indeed been cast as Zsasz. Others feel that this really doesn't prove anything, since he could also have a buzz cut (on one side, at least) to play Two-Face.
Stan himself appeared to leave little doubt that he will indeed play Harvey Dent and Two-Face in the movie during a recent interview, but there's always a chance this was deliberate misdirection.
While speaking to Deadline, the Thunderbolts* actor said that he will play “many roles in this one”.
”'I’m excited, I’m nervous and trying to keep surprising myself,'” he says of taking on Two-Face and working with the hair and makeup teams who have devised how his disfigurement will look."
It's worth noting that Stan didn't actually mention the character himself!
Reeves did previously state that the villain hadn't "really been done before" in a Batman movie, but it was generally assumed that he was referring to Johansson's character.
Though plot details for The Batman - Part II are still under wraps, we have been able to piece together a few things based on casting details and comments from Reeves and others involved with the film.
Some fans have grown concerned that the sequel may rehash too many plot details from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (more below), but it sounds like Reeves and co. may be cooking up something nobody will expect.
Pattinson was asked about the film during a recent interview, and while he declined to go into detail about the script, he did promise that The Batman 2 will be a "really different type of Batman movie."
"The script is so good. It's kinda crazy, because the first one was a little bit of a different type of Batman movie, and this is a really different type of Batman movie. Hopefully, people will be really pleasantly surprised by it."
The Drama star's comments have prompted theories that the sequel could play out in a single location, taking inspiration from Grant Morrison's acclaimed Arkham Asylum graphic novel.
A new take on the Caped Crusader is set to make his DCU debut in The Brave and the Bold (if not sooner).
The Batman - Part II is set to hit theaters on October 1, 2027.