Mike Bedard
Sun, July 12, 2026 at 6:18 PM UTC
There are a ton of great things to enjoy in 2022’s “The Batman.” It makes Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) a legit detective in trying to unravel the rot at the heart of Gotham; and it manages to flesh out its world without rehashing things like Bruce’s parents’ deaths, which so many films have done before. Our main gripe with the film is that it’s now taking forever to get a sequel going
The ending of “The Batman” sees the titular hero realize he can’t merely strike fear into Gotham’s criminals. He also needs to function as a symbol of hope, which will be more important than ever with the city experiencing mass flooding. After years of false starts, as well as a WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, things are finally moving forward on “The Batman: Part II.” We even have gotten some peeks at the cast, which includes Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, and Brian Tyree Henry. Rumors have emerged regarding who they might be playing; but, as of this writing, nothing’s been confirmed yet. That fact has opened the floodgates to a wave of “Part II” fan theories.
Given the immense success of “The Batman” and the long wait between installments, there’s a lot riding on “Part II” to deliver. And if the film adheres to some of these theories, it’ll wind up as a Batman story unlike any other
Scarlett Johansson plays a live-action Phantasm
Batman has one of the richest galleries of villains in all of comic book history, and it’s a shame his live-action movies tend to use the same ones (like the Joker, Catwoman, and the Riddler). But there are plenty of amazing (and not-so amazing) Batman villains who haven’t appeared on the big screen. That’s what made it exciting when “The Batman: Part II” director Matt Reeves spoke with Josh Horowitz on a red carpet and revealed that a villain he has planned for the sequel has “never really been done in a movie before” (via YouTube).
The word “really” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, because it implies the character has technically been done before. And while there’s been some speculation that Scarlett Johansson will be playing Gilda Dent (wife to Harvey, also known as Two-Face), it wouldn’t make sense to bring someone of Johansson’s caliber on just to play a wife. It would be more appropriate for her to have a substantial role; and being Andrea Beaumont, also known as the Phantasm, would be a worthy endeavor for her.
Of course, Phantasm’s been used before in the 1993 animated film “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.” It’s one of the best superhero movies made before 2000 and really gets into the tortured psyche of Bruce Wayne, believing he needs to be Batman to make his parents proud while entering into a new romantic relationship with Andrea, who turns out to be the villainous Phantasm. While “Mask of the Phantasm” did receive a theatrical release, it often gets overlooked by the general public. Perhaps Reeves was talking about a villain who hadn’t been done in a live-action movie before; and in that case, Phantasm would be a great addition to “Part II” and would save us from yet another Joker as the big bad.
Hush could enter the picture
One of the <a href="https://www.looper.com/814732/things-you-only-notice-after-watching-the-batman-twice/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>things you only notice after watching “The Batman” twice is how heavily the villain Hush gets foreshadowed. Years prior, an investigative reporter named Edward Elliot threatened to unveil secrets about the Wayne family. Thomas Wayne tried to bribe him, but then turned to Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) to put the fear of God in him. This resulted in Edward’s death, and when Batman (Robert Pattinson) learns all this, an image is scribbled with the word “Hush.”
This implies that Thomas Elliot will enter the franchise, who, in the comics, becomes the villain Hush. In his seminal comic book series, “Batman: Hush,” Thomas tries to ruin Bruce Wayne’s reputation while attacking his fortune and loved ones. In addition to Scarlett Johansson joining the cast, we also have Sebastian Stan, who would be a shoo-in for Thomas Elliot. Rumors have suggested Stan could also be playing Harvey Dent or Victor Zsasz, but those could be misdirections
While speaking to Deadline, Stan said he has “many roles” in “The Batman: Part II.” Many assumed this was a nod to Harvey Dent, who becomes Two-Face and has multiple personalities. But it could also suggest he’s playing Hush, as Thomas Elliot is a respected member of Gotham’s elite while Hush is a deeply violent sociopath. Similar to how Gilda Dent would be slightly disappointing to see Johansson play, Stan can also probably do better than Harvey Dent or serial killer Victor Zsasz
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Batman will use Venom
The climax of “The Batman” sees the Caped Crusader on the brink of collapse until he pulls out ato himself. He gains a sudden burst of energy and nearly beats one of Riddler’s (Paul Dano) lackeys to death. After watching the movie, many naturally wondered what this green substance in “The Batman” was
According to “The Art of The Batman” by James Field, it’s merely an adrenaline shot to give Batman a quick boost of energy. It’s simple enough, but a bit too simple if you ask us. The green aesthetic naturally made a lot of fans curious as to whether this was Venom, which is used in most Batman media by Bane to give him his colossal strength. Even if it’s not officially called “Venom” in the movie, it could be seen as an early prototype to be used by Bane later
There’s actually a comic book arc titled “Batman: Venom,” where the Dark Knight fails to save a young girl and begins using Venom to give himself more strength. He becomes addicted to it, and it’s possible Robert Pattinson’s Batman could go down a similar dark path. This would give Batman some personal demons to exorcise while trying to stop whoever the main bad guy turns out to be. It could even encourage Bruce Wayne to refine the adrenaline’s formula to make him even stronger, making it resemble something closer the Venom that Bane uses.
The story will take influence from The Long Halloween
“Batman: The Long Halloween” has had pieces adapted into live-action films before. “The Dark Knight” presents Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) becoming corrupted while “The Batman” adapts the part where it’s implied Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) is Carmine Falcone’s illegitimate daughter. However, no movie has yet adapted the comic’s strongest twist, and some “The Batman: Part II” fan theories suggest it could be time
In the event Scarlett Johansson is playing Gilda Dent, it would make the most sense to draw inspiration from the version seen in “The Long Halloween.” At the end of the comic story, it’s revealed that Gilda is the original Holiday Killer, who murders prominent Gothamites each holiday. However, she’s only responsible for the first three murders until Alberto Falcone and Harvey Dent took over later
Given recent rumors that Brian Tyree Henry will play Harvey Dent, it’s possible Johansson could play his wife. That leaves room for Sebastian Stan to play Victor Zsasz or Thomas Elliot, who could be causing mayhem in Gotham concurrently while a separate string of murders occur. Perhaps Bruce Wayne won’t even consider someone else is out there, let alone the district attorney’s wife
The Court of Owls will finally get introduced
There are many “The Batman: Part II” fan theories that make a good deal of sense. But through all of them, there’s one theory that has been present since the first “The Batman” came out, and it’s honestly the perfect way to escalate the threat of that film and lead to an epic showdown in a potential third film: introducing the Court of Owls
Ultimately, “The Batman” is about the underlying corruption within Gotham. Even Bruce Wayne’s family wasn’t immune, so it’s not merely that there are a few criminals wreaking havoc. The very institutions of the city are failing. The Court of Owls are Gotham’s secret society of the elite controlling everything. Basically, they’re Gotham’s Illuminati, and it would be great if “Part II” formally brought them to light to depict how Bruce’s struggle to save Gotham is all for naught when individuals are pulling the strings outside of his grasp.
Fans think Matt Reeves has already teased the Court of Owls’ introduction in “Part II.” The filmmaker posted a cryptic photo to X, displaying a Batman Funko Pop next to a clock reading “8:12 a.m.” Some have speculated the time is referring to “Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls” from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, which features Issues 8 through 12 of their Batman run. And as you can surmise from the title, that storyline has everything to do with the Court of Owls and could be Reeves’ way of telling fans to catch up on some reading before checking out “The Batman: Part II” on October 1, 2027.
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Read the original article on Looper
