The Batman 2’s surprise villain revealed in new report

Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part 2 is still more than a year away, and thanks to a new report, we finally have some indication about who might be the movie’s headlining villain. In fact, there may be more than one villain, depending on how things go in Gotham City next year.

According to an unconfirmed report from entertainment reporter Jeff Sneider, Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) will be playing serial killer Victor Zsasz in The Batman Part 2, while Brian Tyree Henry (Eternals) will play Harvey Dent. It’s unclear if Henry’s character will go full Two-Face in Reeves’ sequel to 2022’s The Batman. Henry is one of three rumored Dents in The Batman Part 2; Scarlett Johannson (Black Widow) has reportedly been cast as Gilda Dent, Harvey’s wife, while Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) is set to play Christopher Dent, Harvey’s father.

Victor Zsasz (aka Mister Zsasz) is a longtime foe of Batman in DC’s comics. The sadomasochistic, psychopathic serial killer is known for carving a tally mark into his skin for each of his victims. He made his comics debut in 1992’s Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 and the character has appeared in video games like Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Zsasz has been portrayed in live action multiple times, including in the TV series Gotham (played by Anthony Carrigan), in Birds of Prey (Chris Messina), and in Batman Begins (Tim Booth).

Harvey Dent is well known to Batman fans. The character has been portrayed in multiple live-action Batman movies, including Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman (played by Billy Dee Williams), Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever (Tommy Lee Jones), and The Dark Knight (Aaron Eckhart). Dent’s alter ego Two-Face only showed up in two of those films.

How does this all square with Reeves saying that the antagonist of The Batman Part 2 has “never really been done in a movie before”? That depends on how much work the word “really” is doing here. Zsasz’s appearances in Birds of Prey and Batman Begins certainly don’t portray him as the serial killer he’s made out to be in Batman comics, and it’s unclear if Harvey Dent will devolve into his scarred, evil form or not. There’s another option: Maybe neither Victor Zsasz nor Harvey Dent are The Batman Part 2‘s lead villain. Maybe it’s the Joker? (Probably not.)

Reeves has previously said that he wants to center his Batman sequel on Bruce Wayne. The Batman Part 2’s villain, he said, will dig into Wayne’s past and his life, and become a very personal threat. “Picking the right villain that digs… into his past and his life, that was what sort of drove that discussion, and I won’t tell you where we ended up, but I’m super excited about it,” Reeves said last year about his plans.

The Batman Part 2 is scheduled to hit movie theaters on Oct. 1, 2027. Robert Pattinson is set to return as Bruce Wayne/Batman, joined by Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb/Penguin, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth.