During a recent interview, The Batman director Matt Reeves indicated that his long-awaited sequel will take place during the winter (likely around Christmas or New Year's), which led to some speculation that Mr. Freeze might be introduced as the villain of the piece.
This is a massive leap, of course, but the "rumor" (see below) now has its icy grip on the internet, especially after Patrick Schwarzenegger sent out the following post.
As we're sure you'll all be aware, Patrick's megastar father - Arnold Schwarzenegger - played Mr. Freeze in 1997's Batman and Robin, and some fans thought he might be hinting that he's set to play a new take on the character in The Batman sequel. The Gen V actor was quick to shut this down, however, responding with: "Nah haha but I wish!"
Is there a chance Mr. Freeze will show up in the movie? Anything is possible, but we'd say it's highly unlikely. Reeves has already confirmed that he has no interest in utilizing any fantastical villains in this universe, and while a more grounded take on Dr. Victor Fries might be an option, we'd say Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight will almost certainly be sending a different baddie to the cooler (sorry... we had to get one of Arnie's puns in there).
In the same interview, Reeves confirmed that he still intends to complete the trilogy he originally envisioned prior to James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over as co-heads of the recently-implemented DC Studios.
"Yes, that is still the plan," said the filmmaker. "I mean, it’s sticking very closely to the path we envisioned."
There was some concern that any plans that may have been in place would be changed with the formation of the DCU, especially since a new take on the Dark Knight is set to be introduced in The Brave and the Bold down the line.
"Things kind of shifted," Reeves admitted. "So, when we came up with the idea to do The Penguin, that was something where I had always intended to continue Penguin's story, and wanted to tell this story of his beginning of rise to power. Because we know that he's introduced in The Batman as a kind of mid-level, sort of overlooked, mocked figure, who's not yet in anyone's eyes the kingpin we come to know him as in the lore. And so, that was deliberate because I wanted— whereas it wasn't Batman's origin story, I wanted the origin stories of these other characters, of the Rogues Gallery and that story was originally going to be the entrée into the next movie."