Following critical acclaim and box office success for The Batman in 2022, director Matt Reeves has embarked on the quest to find talent for the film's sequel. Though Batman Part II is still in its early stages of production, Robert Pattinson's Batman might be on the verge of finding his newest rival.
Reeves' The Batman followed the titular character two years after he started fighting crime in Gotham City, where he uncovered corruption while fighting Paul Dano's The Riddler— a serial killer who targets the elite. Earlier this year, co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn, confirmed the film's sequel and revealed it would be released in October 2025. This version of The Dark Knight is not part of the new DC Universe. Instead, it is part of what Gunn calls "DC Elseworlds," a series of projects that deviates from the published standard DC Comics.
As The Batman 2 heads into its pre-production stages, more cast details are slowly being revealed. The latest is a potential lead on who will face The Dark Knight. There's no confirmation yet on whom the villain will be, but according to The Hot Mic, rumors suggest both Clayface and Two-Face could fulfill that position. Such rumors come after the first installment of The Batman was supposed to have two villains, The Riddler and Joker. While it remains to be seen, actors Josh Hartnett and Joel Edgerton are reportedly in the running to play Two-Face in The Batman 2. According to John Rocha, Gotham's new District Attorney "may become Two-Face by the end of the film."
Hartnett has been known to turn down the opportunity to play Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man before the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes were conceived. Recently, he starred in Guy Ritchie's Operation Fortune: Russe de Guerre and will be soon seen as American Physicist Ernest Lawrence in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Meanwhile, Edgerton appeared in the Star Wars limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi as the young version of Luke Skywalker's Uncle Owen.
Reeves' Batman reimagining serves as a breath of fresh air for DC Studios, a company whose main cinematic universe, the DCEU, has been constantly involved in numerous controversies and ravaged by negative critics. Most recently, the upcoming Flash film has battled negative press amid the problematic history of its main star, Ezra Miller. Nonetheless, James Gunn's increased involvement in the studio— which has resulted in better-received content from fans, as seen with The Suicide Squad— coupled with the already established fandom of The Batman, could result in a major win and comeback for the film adaptations of the emblematic comics.
The Batman Part II will debut in theaters on October 3, 2025.