Like the bat-signal over Gotham City, The Batman: Part II is in a holding pattern right now. Unlike the familiar signal, however, there’s nobody imminently swinging in to the rescue on a grapnel line. Director Matt Reeves has stepped away for personal reasons that are unspecified. Warner Bros., which, according to Ben Affleck, got rid of Zack Snyder the moment they had any pretext to do so, appears to not be going that route with Matt Reeves, and has not announced any replacement director, nor a search for one. So what’s next for the long-anticipated sequel? They’ve already been filming, so the obvious options are to wait for Reeves, hire a successor, or scrap the entire movie for a tax write-off, as happened to Batgirl the last time Warner Bros. merged with another company.
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One of these approaches has just been ruled out, at least for now. In a lengthy interview at IGN, DC Studios co-chair Peter Safran discussed a wide variety of projects in development and production. Most of the time, he had a lot to say, but when it came to the question of whether there was any chance The Batman: Part II might be left unfinished, he got straight to the point with his answer: “No.”
The Batman: Part II Will Get Done; It’s a Question of When
Earlier in the same interview, Safran names The Batman: Part II as one of their films coming out in 2028, which sounds like an additional vote of confidence that the film will be finished on time. Batgirlwas shelved in part because, after corporate mergers, companies have a limited amount of time to dump assets as write-offs. Safran has met with Skydance CEO David Ellison, the new boss of Warner Bros., and it sounds like all is copacetic there. Ellison left Safran and Gunn in charge after seeing their plans, and any Batman movie is generally the flagship DC title any time it comes out.
Star Robert Pattinson has called the halt in production “pausing for a little bit,” indicating that he thinks it will be figured out. Sebastian Stan has to balance whatever they reschedule with his Marvel commitments, which has led some to speculate what his potential shoot dates mean for Bucky Barnes’ Marvel fate. Fans who are tempted to compare this to Zack Snyder stepping away from Justice League should keep in mind that even before Snyder’s personal tragedy, the studio was dissatisfied with his cut, wanting it shorter and funnier. The four-hour epic director’s cut he eventually got to do only happened because of COVID lockdowns — there was no way Warner Bros. could have theatrically released it.
Reeves, however, has seemed to be on good terms with the studio, and after the first The Batman went pretty dark, nobody’s been saying the new one should lighten up. The success of The Penguin on HBO, which went even darker, has viewers wanting more of that. Fans are also saying Pattinson looks great on set as Bruce Wayne. The (presumably) lighter Batman will come later in DC Studios’ The Brave and the Bold, rumored to focus on the Bat-family rather than simply Bruce Wayne as a lone vigilante.
Now that you’ve heard they intend to complete the movie, would you rather they wait for a Reeves return, or get someone else to finish the job for certain? Let us know in the comments.
4 Years Later, Robert Pattinson Reveals the Cult Batman Comic That Inspired His Version, And Not Even Chris Nolan Cited It
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