The Batman 2 is set to begin filming next spring, and we still don’t know the main threat the Caped Crusader will be facing when he returns. However, director Matt Reeves dropped some tantalizing hints in a red carpet interview with MTV’s Josh Horowitz at the Emmy Awards, where Cristin Milioti won the award for lead actress in a limited series for her appearance in The Batman spinoff The Penguin.
Reeves said that he and his writing partner Mattson Tomlin did a deep dive into the Batman comics and watched a bunch of movies, not all of which are set in Gotham, to figure out what kind of story they wanted to tell. Since his first film was so focused on Batman trying to establish himself as a hero, Reeves wants to center the sequel on Bruce Wayne. The Batman 2’s villain will dig into Wayne’s past and his life, rather than just providing a threat to the Dark Knight.
“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.
The filmmaker then further narrowed the field by adding: “I will say it’s never really been done in a movie before.”
That last note eliminates the Joker, who made a cameo, played by Barry Keoghan, in The Batman, as well as Colin Farrel’s Penguin. It also rules out a host of other major villains: Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Bane, Mr. Freeze, the Scarecrow, Two Face, Ra’s al Ghul, and Talia al Ghul. (Wow, there’s been a lot of Batman movies already.) It’s unlikely it will be Clayface given a separate film focused on the shapeshifter is in the works as part of James Gunn’s DCU.
The Batman tied the Riddler’s origin story to the Wayne family, so Reeves could come up with ways to have any number of villains put pressure on Bruce Wayne, but there are a few that would be particularly appropriate. The criminal mastermind Hugo Strange has been known to use his expertise in psychology to puzzle out Batman’s secret identity. Another strong fit would be the Court of Owls, a secret society including members of the wealthiest and most influential families in Gotham with deep ties to the Wayne family.
The Court of Owls was first introduced in a 2012 comic of the same name by writer Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, which means more casual or old school Batman fans may be less familiar with them. (There’s no Batman: The Animated Series episode about the secret society, for example). However, Reeves clearly did a deep dive into Batman lore for this movie, and the Court of Owls seems like a perfect fit that’s also become a modern fan favorite among comic book readers.
Regardless of who he picks, Reeves’ decision to make Bruce Wayne more important in the sequel should allow Robert Pattinson to show off more of his range and keep the focus on mystery and intrigue. We’ll just have to keep speculating until The Batman 2 releases on Oct. 1, 2027.
