Matt Reeves' upcoming The Batman Part 2 is gearing up for a cinematic release on October 2, 2026, with fans having an anxiously long wait for the follow up to 2022's The Batman, which grossed $771 million worldwide. It was originally slated for release in 2025, but this has been pushed back. The Batman was positively received by fans and critics alike, but there are a few things The Batman Part 2 needs to do to improve on if it is to match the success of the previous movie.

Robert Pattinson will reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and he is the only actor who is officially confirmed to return for The Batman Part 2. However, Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell are very likely to return for the sequel. There could also be a return for Barry Keoghan as The Joker after his role was teased at the end of the last movie. Fans will be appeased by the long wait for the new movie, with the upcoming release of the HBO Max spin-off series, The Penguin, which is set for release in Fall 2024, consisting of 8 episodes.

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The Batman Part 2 needs to be shorter

The Batman was a truly great movie, and an original iteration of the iconic Dark Knight character, with Robert Pattinson playing the role rather differently to his predecessors. However, at a whopping runtime of nearly three hours, it was arguably way too long for a comic book movie.

The Batman Part 2 would really benefit from being much shorter, with a significant tightening of the story. The sequel is currently in pre production, so there is no official announcement on how long the movie will be, but after everything was set up for the new version of the story in the previous movie, there is no need for the upcoming sequel to be quite as long.

Batman needs to improve his detective skills in The Batman Part 2

DC Comics famously branded Batman the world's best detective, but his investigative skills in The Batmanin 2022, leave a lot to be desired. Matt Reeves describedThe Batmanas a detective story at its core, as Robert Pattinson’s Batman uncovers a citywide network of corrupt police officers and shady politicians. However,much of his detective work doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, as he tends to stumble across the answers and relies on other characters to do the real leg work in the case.

Batman fails to solve the Riddler’s many puzzles until it's too late. Despite Bruce Wayne's alter ego ultimately saving the mayor elect from assassination, it is arguably down to his physical skills rather than his detective skills. Also,The Riddler turns himself in, so Batman doesn't actually achieve anything from his detective work in The Batman.

In his defense, previous iterations of Batman haven't exactly been the best detectives either, and have focused more on his action skills. So, at least Pattinson's Batman made an attempt to brush up on his detective skills in the last movie. Hopefully, The Batman Part 2 will feature a significant improvement in his crime solving skills.

Jim Gordon needs to be a bigger focus in the upcoming sequel

Batman might not be the best detective in the world, but he is massively helped by teaming up with Jeffrey Wright's Jim Gordon in The Batman. Gordon is a great detective, and the movie has a real vibe of David Fincher's hit 90s classic, Seven, with two investigators trying to track down a vicious serial killer.

The Batman Part 2 needs to give Jim Gordon a much bigger role than he got in the previous entry, as his character is such an important and interesting one. The dynamic he shares with Batman is significantly different to how they have operated in previous movies, and this needs to be expanded upon in the upcoming sequel.

Jeffrey Wright is a superb actor who deserves more screen time, especially after he proved he could carry a movie with his superb turn as Thelonius 'Monk' Ellison in American Fiction in 2023. His role earned him an Oscar nomination, and it will surely lead to bigger roles in the future. The Batman Part 2 should put him front and center of the action, as he fights to solve a brand-new case with Batman.

There hasn't been any official confirmation of whether Jeffrey Wright will be returning as Jim Gordon in The Batman Part 2, but it is extremely likely he will be back. It would be good to see the sequel lean more into what made Gary Oldman's Gordon such a good detective in The Dark Knight Trilogy. The Batman Part 2 is shaping up to be a great sequel, and if it improves on these aspects, it could exceed its predecessor.

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