The Batman 2 has been delayed by a year, with its release date now set in 2026.
Despite the new era at DC led by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the highly-anticipated sequel is still underway with Robert Pattinson reprising his role as Bruce Wayne — and filming may be starting very soon.
In April 2022, Matt Reeves confirmed he was returning to write and direct the follow-up to The Batman, also confirming the return of the main cast. The sequel has even got an official title – The Batman Part II – but we now have to wait a couple of years for it.
So while we wait, here's everything you need to know about The Batman Part II.
The Batman 2 release date: When can we expect The Batman Part II?
The Batman Part II will arrive in cinemas on October 2, 2026, after being pushed back for a year.
The original release date for the sequel was on October 3, 2025. Warner Bros hasn't offered any reasons for the delay beyond a schedule shuffle.
The filming is set to start in March 2024 (a pushback from the rumored original start date of November 2023), after also being delayed due to the writers and actors' strikes in 2023, which spanned from July to November.
With Gunn and Safran's new plans for the DC Universe underway, it was officially confirmed The Batman Part II was to be part of the independent franchise DC Elseworlds, alongside the two Joker movies.
They are separate from the main timeline, but still part of the wider DC universe. Just don't go expecting crossovers with the other Batman movie coming.
The Batman 2 cast: Who's coming back for The Batman Part II?
Robert Pattinson has been confirmed to return which is a given, since he is vengeance Bruce Wayne, aka Batman. Behind the scenes, Reeves is also returning to direct and write the sequel, but it's unknown if somebody else will write too as they did on the first movie.
We'd also eat our hats if Zoe Kravitz and Jeffrey Wright didn't return for a follow-up, given, as we've said, both characters have plenty of development yet to undergo. Neither of them have been officially confirmed, though.
Somebody who has been announced to return is Andy Serkis as Bruce's faithful butler Alfred, with Reeves confirming the news in a GQ profile piece on the star.
We could also see Colin Farrell again as Penguin, given what we know about how crime in Gotham is going to get worse before it gets better.
With Falcone (John Turturro) shot and killed, Penguin is in a prime position to take over his drug operation. It's something we could see play out in the already confirmed spin-off TV show, which is currently filming.
Given he was murdered by Riddler, we likely won't see Turturro return, and the same goes for Peter Sarsgaard as DA Gil Coulson. Whether or not Paul Dano could return as Riddler remains to be seen. If there's an Arkham break-out, it's a possibility.
The Batman 2 plot: How does The Batman ending set up a sequel?
We won't go into every detail of The Batman's plot here as you can see that here, but we're going to focus on two things that could be significant for the sequel: that big cameo, and the state of Gotham City at the end.
Firstly, the final moment of The Batman takes place in Arkham prison, in which an unnamed prisoner consoles a distraught Riddler. This prisoner (played by Barry Keoghan) isn't confirmed in the movie to be Joker, but it definitely is.
However, that doesn't mean Joker will definitely be in the sequel.
"The scene [isn't] meant to say that's the next movie or that's the character we're going to do. It was more this idea of a tease and a nod to people who love this world to say that, 'Oh my gosh, I think that's that character'," Reeves told Digital Spy.
As for the setting, Gotham is still quite far from any kind of redemption, which Reeves envisioned from the start.
He said: "The story of Batman never ends, so you want to leave it in a place where the story continues because [if it doesn't], it's as if saying, 'He solved the problem, there's no more crime in Gotham' and well, that doesn't have any basis in any reality.
"That's why Gotham is so relevant because there's never a time when corruption and crime are not something, unfortunately, part of our world. The idea of having an ending that speaks of the continuation is to say that Batman lives on."
The film itself ends with the mayor-elect Bella Réal promising a brighter future for the residents of Gotham City. To be fair, it can't get worse as the city is flooded by Riddler, even if his overall plan to kill a lot of citizens is foiled by Batman.
This happened in the Zero Year comic storyline and Gotham has been destroyed in various ways in other stories, such as No Man's Land. Like the first movie, we'd expect Reeves to cherry-pick from various comic storylines to come up with a new story.
In addition, Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) is only a lieutenant in The Batman, meaning there's plenty of time for him to work his way up to the title of Commissioner, for which he's best known.
Selina Kyle also has more character development mileage in her. While she has less screen time than the eponymous vigilante, she is clearly still developing her alter-ego of Catwoman which leaves room for her to blossom fully into the role in a sequel.
Pattinson, himself, has said that he's mapped out how the psychology of his Batman would develop over two more movies, so hopefully, he gets the chance to explore this more in the sequel as well.
The Batman 2 trailer: Any footage of The Batman Part II yet?
It might have a release date, but The Batman Part II hasn't started filming yet, so don't expect to see any footage until at least 2025. Sorry.
The Batman Part II will arrive in cinemas on October 2, 2026.
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