Despite the massive changes that have been made to the DCU by Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios, Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise is set to continue. We don't know whether the filmmaker's ambitious plan for several villain-led HBO Max TV shows will come to fruition, but The Batman II has been confirmed, as has The Penguin.
The latter is even in the midst of shooting in New York, and it's been mentioned on several occasions now that the plan is for it to bridge the gap between The Batman and its sequel.
It was recently reported that Robert Pattinson will return as Bruce Wayne in The Penguin, likely for another confrontation between his Dark Knight and Colin Farrell's Oz. After all, the villain is looking to take Gotham City's underworld and make it his own, bringing the character more in line with his comic book counterpart.
Recently, rumours have been swirling online that complicated rights issues prohibit Batman from appearing on television, hence why we haven't seen him in the likes of Titans and Gotham Knights.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, however, was quick to debunk those claims. Clearly, Batman can appear on TV...Warner Bros. probably just didn't want to lessen the hero's appeal by having him take centre stage in less-than-stellar small screen projects.
While Gunn hasn't necessarily confirmed that Pattinson's Batman will be part of The Penguin, we remain convinced that the Caped Crusader will show up at some point!
Farrell will be joined in the series by Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell.
The Batman II is set to be released in theaters on October 3, 2025. The Penguin, meanwhile, will likely premiere on HBO Max sometime in 2024.