Initially scheduled for fall 2025, writer/director Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” sequel, tentatively known as “The Batman – Part II,” has been delayed an entire year. Once set for October 3, 2025, Warner Bros. revealed today that the film has been pushed back 12 months until October 2, 2026.
The news probably wouldn’t surprise anyone who read our recent interview with the film’s director of photography, Greig Fraser (though to be fair, you might have to hear the audio). In our interview with Fraser about “Dune: Part Two,” every time we inquired about “The Batman 2,” Fraser demurred, and the cinematographer would not engage in any questions about the film’s timetable, leading many of us internally to believe the movie was definitely being delayed.
Reeves is already notoriously a slow and deliberate writer, and the first “Batman” film took many years to come to the screen. Announced for him circa 2017, right around the time his ‘Apes’ franchise was concluding, the film didn’t arrive until 2022, though obviously the pandemic didn’t help.
“The Batman” franchise stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman alongside Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle as Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, Wayne’s butler, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin. Barry Keoghan made a cameo appearance as the Joker, but Reeves has already suggested he would remain in the background and likely not be the sequel’s main villain.
Most of these cast members are expected to return, though Farrell will reprise his role as the character in the MAX series, “The Penguin,” later this year.
Plenty of rumors exist about the potential villains of the sequel and its direction. Still, given that Reeves is already delaying his release date by a year and the film is more than two years away, it’s probably too early to speculate and many of those rumors are probably false.