Now that The Batman Part II is finally ready to take flight, director Matt Reeves is wasting no time getting the bat signal lit and stacking his superhero sequel’s call sheet. Over the last few days, Reeves has headed to social media to begin teasing camera tests for Robert Pattinson — aka R-Battz — and co’s return to The Batman‘s dark, gritty Gotham City. And in the past 24 hours, the filmmaker has upped the ante, confirming key returning players and — as of today — three new additions to the Dark Knight’s Bat-rolodex. Yes, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, and Charles Dance are officially heading to Gotham — and we’ve got the GIFs from Matt Reeves’ X account to prove it. Check ’em out below;
Okay, okay, so we had heard that Stan, Johansson, and Dance were in line for Reeves’ Bat-sequel before, and rumours of Stan playing iconic Batman baddie Harvey Dent/Two-Face — though, importantly, unsubstantiated as of yet — have been doing the rounds for months now. Still, it’s good to get actual confirmation straight from the director himself, and to add some further fuel to the fire regarding their potential Dent family roles.
There’s not much we can parse from the GIFs Reeves has shared, admittedly, mostly as the shots have come from other films. Even so, the captions suggest ScarJo is making her way into Gotham rather than arriving as a citizen of the city already. Meanwhile for Stan, who we hasten to again acknowledge has not been confirmed to play Harvey Dent, Reeves has plumped for a shot carrying an intensity that doesn’t scream “I’m one of the good guys!” And as for Dance, well, he doesn’t look like he’d be out of place playing Harvey Dent’s dad, right? Presumably, we will be hearing a lot more about all three cast newcomers’ roles as shooting gets underway on the Reeves and Mattson Tomlin-penned movie. (UPDATE: Since posting, Deadline now reports that Scarlett Johansson is set to play Harvey Dent’s wife Gilda in the film. This hasn’t been officially verified yet, however.)
Elsewhere, previous Reeves GIFs have already revealed that Robert Pattinson is — surprise surprise! — back as Batman, as is Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Colin Farrell as Oz ‘The Penguin’ Cobb, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Jayme Lawson as Gotham City Mayor Bella Reál, and Gil Perez-Abraham as Officer Martinez. Where exactly The Batman Part II will take our heroes and villains next as they deal with the aftermath of the first movie’s floody finale very much remains to be seen — but, after many, many delays, be seen it shall be. The Batman Part II is set to swoop into cinemas on 1 October, 2027.
