The Batman director Matt Reeves recently announced that he had finally finished the script for his long-awaited sequel, which he penned alongside co-writer Mattson Tomlin.
The news came in the midst of concerns that the movie, which does appear to be officially titled The Batman - Part II for the time being, may have been cancelled or been hit with another significant delay, with speculation continuing to mount that DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran might be 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 going to see at least one more instalment in Reeves' "Epic Crime Saga" as well, as the movie officially entered the pre-production phase earlier this month.
With so much anticipation building for such a long time after the first film, can The Batman -Part II possibly live up to expectations? Tomlin certainly seems confident that this sequel can surpass the highly-regarded original.
"The only worthwhile reason to make a sequel to anything is because there's a story burning to be told that you believe can top what came before," the writer said in response to a fan on X.
Gunn only recently got a chance to read the script after being busy with the Superman press tour, but all he would say when asked about the story is: "It's great!"
"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."
It does seem a little odd that Gunn won't just flat out say "no, Pattinson will not be the DCU's Batman," and a lot of fans believe that he is simply covering all bases in case he does ultimately decide to keep the actor on as The Brave and the Bold's Caped Crusader.
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.