On Thursday, The Batman director Matt Reeves revealed that he had finally finished the script for his long-awaited sequel, which he penned alongside co-writer Mattson Tomlin.
The announcement came in the midst of speculation that the movie, which does appear to be officially titled The Batman - Part II for the time being, may have been cancelled, with DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran planning to either introduce a brand-new take on The Dark Knight in The Brave and The Bold, or fold Robert Pattinson's BatVerse take on the iconic hero into the DCU.
Gunn remains adamant that the plan is still to forge ahead with another actor for the DCU's Caped Crusader, but we are clearly going to see at least one more instalment in Reeves' "Epic Crime Saga" as well.
Reeves may have handed in the script, but Gunn still hasn't had a chance to read it (or at least, he hadn't during his interview with ComicBook.com on Saturday).
“I have not. I have not," he told the site when asked if he'd read the script. "I’m so excited to read it, and I’m hoping I can read it on the plane to London tomorrow, but I also might fall asleep.”
Gunn obviously meant that he'll likely be too exhausted from the Superman press tour, and not that he might find the script boring. But between these quotes and his previous "Matt is slow" comment, some fans have convinced themselves that there's some kind of friction exists between the two.
"It would be a consideration. We’d have to think about it," Gunn said when asked about the prospect of Pattinson staying on as the DCU's Batman during a recent Rolling Stone interview. "We’d have to think about it. It is not like we’ve never discussed it. I would never say zero [chance], because you just never know. But it’s not likely. It’s not likely at all."
"I’ll also say Batman Part II is not canceled," the filmmaker confirmed. "That’s the other thing I hear all the time — that Batman Part II is canceled. It’s not canceled. We don’t have a script. Matt’s slow. Let him take his time. Let him do what he’s doing. God, people are mean. Let him do his thing, man."
We still know very little about The Batman - Part II, but there have been rumors that plot rumors that Hush and/or Mr. Freeze could end up being the villains. There doesn't seem to be much to these reports, but based on previous comments from Reeves, there is a good chance that the movie will have a winter setting.
In addition to Pattinson, everyone from the first film (with the likely exception of Paul Dano's Riddler) is expected to return, along with some characters from The Penguin.