We're still over two and a half years away from seeing The Batman sequel in theaters, and speculation about the movie's villain continues to run rampant.
Mr. Freeze remains a fan-favourite choice, as does Hush. In the comics, Thomas Elliot is one of Bruce Wayne's childhood friends and a psychopath who tried to murder his parents and inherit their fortune. However, Dr. Thomas Wayne saved his mother's life and, decades later, Tommy's resentments result in him vowing to destroy Bruce's life.
Now a neurosurgeon, "Hush" hides his face in bandages and learns his old friend is secretly Batman. With that, he allies with Gotham City's worst villains - including The Riddler - to destroy the Dark Knight once and for all.
Recently, The Batman production designer Kalina Ivanov was asked if "the decision to name the bridge Elliot Bridge random or intentional?" To that, she responded, "Intentional!"
As you can probably imagine, this has led to renewed speculation the Easter Egg was indeed meant to set the stage for Hush's Bat-verse debut in The Batman Part II. While this is far from confirmation, if the bridge's name was intentionally included, there has to be a reason for that.
In 2022, filmmaker Matt Reeves went on record as saying, "There are so many, and, I dunno... I think Hush is a really interesting one to do. I'll say Hush. But that doesn't mean that the next one will be Hush!"
More recently, he's addressed the movie's repeated release date delays and how work is progressing on the script. Talking at the Golden Globes, Reeves said it is "of course" a priority to get The Batman 2 script where it needs to be, confirming he's "absolutely" happy with how work is progressing and that new 2027 release date.
He added, "I mean, this year we're gonna be shooting and I'm very excited about it. There's been a lot of stuff going on and it's taken longer than I would have wanted but also, I'm super excited about what we're doing and I really can't wait to share that with everybody."
Asked if he has settled on a big bad, Reeves noted, "Yes, of course, or we'd really be in trouble. I hope [it's surprising]. I think so. I think that the story is a continuation in a certain way and completely different in another. It's gonna show a different side to Rob...it's going to be really cool."
The Batman 2 will be released in theaters on October 1, 2027.