The Batman's official credits state that Matt Reeves and Peter Craig wrote the movie; however, Terminator Zero showrunner Mattson Tomlin made key contributions to the script which a WGA arbitration ultimately decided wasn't enough to also earn him a credit.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, the Mother/Android writer revealed that he'd learned he wouldn't be getting a credit on The Batman when he started work on Terminator Zero. As you might expect, that left him feeling in "a kind of downturn."
However, Reeves later turned to Tomlin to co-write The Batman II, and he tells the trade that, not only did this mend any hard feelings, but it's now given him the opportunity to show the world what he can do in the Caped Crusader's corner of the DC Universe.
The writer started by explaining how it felt to learn his name wouldn't be linked to The Batman:
"Yeah, I’ll be honest about it. It was a painful thing to have happen. I put a lot of time and a lot of heart in. I had a really, really great time working with Matt on that first movie. And when I got brought in, it was kind of said, 'Look, we’re so late in this process that you’re probably not going to get credit.' So nobody did anything to me. I wasn’t screwed over. We ended up doing so much, not just on the third act, but then heightening things in the mystery, and the first two acts — that then there was kind of a moment of, 'Oh, wait, maybe there’s a chance [I’ll get credit].' But that’s all that it was. And then my name got out there in public, which is always kind of a bad idea. So, then I’m associated with this thing.
So I found out the day that the Fandome trailer came out [in August 2020]. On the one hand, it was like, 'Wow, there it is!' And on the other hand, it’s like, '…and I don’t have anything to do with this anymore.' And that was a little bit of a heartbreak, and there was a level of, dare I say, having to grow up and having to go, 'You know what? They paid me. I’m a professional, so be a professional and try not to take that too hard.'"
As for what it's been like working on the sequel as co-writer, Tomlin added:
"The day that the movie came out, [Matt Reeves] and I talked on the phone for an hour or two, and he was just talking about the process of making the movie, and I think just kind of processing the experience that he had had. And I had an impulse to go like, 'OK, but are you going to ask me to do the sequel?' And I didn’t go there. Instead, it became very clear to me, he just wants to talk about what he’s just been through. So just be a good dude, be a good friend, celebrate that he still treating me like it’s something that I was a part of, because I was. And so just enjoy that. And it was about six weeks later that he called me and said, 'So, sequel time. You want to do this all the way this time?'
There was such a tremendous emotional catharsis for me, because Batman means a ton to me. And I think that when you’re a writer, a director, a creator, you’re trying to do things that matter to you, but also that matter to audiences. And all the scary thoughts came. The imposter syndrome came, and the thoughts of, 'Oh, am I going to be the footnote in a Wikipedia article of, 'Oh yeah, he had something to do with that one, and that was his career?'' All that dark, scary stuff happened. And it’s still there, by the way, but it was kind of this moment of, 'OK — it’s not even a redemption arc. It’s more like, now I get to prove myself. Now I get the big boy job.' And so, all of that is to say, I am I forever, forever in debt to Matt Reeves. He’s changed my life three times over now."
No official details have been shared about The Batman follow-up, though The Penguin will bridge the gap between the two movies when it premieres later this month.
The first movie set the stage for Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight to match wits with The Joker, though the bulk of Barry Keoghan's screentime ended up being confined to a deleted scene released on social media.
The Batman II is scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 2, 2026.