‘The Batman 2’ director teases new villain who “hasn’t really been done in a movie before”

The sequel to The Batman is set to feature a new villain who “hasn’t really been done in a movie before”.

• READ MORE: ‘The Batman’ review: down in the dumps with Robert Pattinson’s dark knight

Director Matt Reeves teased that he is veering away from the franchise’s conventional baddies in a red carpet interview with Josh Horowitz.

He also said the sequel will focus more on the character of Bruce Wayne since “the first is so focused on Batman.”

Reeves pointed out that in previous films, the origin story is often the meat of Wayne’s background, but with The Batman 2, fans will see the man behind the mask in new ways.

He added: “[In] a lot of the other films, which I love, once you get past the origin tale, which we didn’t quite do, but we did something that referred to his origins, then you start telling the Rogues Gallery story and that character’s sort of arch.

“But I never wanted to lose [Robert Pattinson] at the centre of these stories, and so that is really what we set our aim on.”

The sequel is in pre-production now, with the script having been completed by Matt Reeves and Matson Tomlin. Production is expected to begin in the spring of 2026, with a release date set for October 1, 2027.

Elsewhere, James Gunn recently shot down rumours that Robin will appear in The Batman 2, telling fans to “stop believing this nonsense”.

Gunn previously defended the “slow” progress of the sequel, arguing that fans “don’t need to be entitled about it”.

The first film, which along with Pattinson also starred Paul Dano and Colin Farrell, was a box office and critical success in 2022. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “There’s no tired retreading of Bruce Wayne’s origin story in The Batman. Instead, it finds him post-induction – beaten-down, lonely and isolated.”

The Batman and its sequel exist on a separate timeline from the new DC Universe that launched this summer with Gunn’s Superman, starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan.

However, Gunn recently discussed the possibility of Corenswet’s Superman and Pattinson’s Batman coming together in a future film. “We’ve talked about it before,” he said. “But it’s not what’s happening right now. Everything is in flux, so we’ll figure out what we’re doing next.”

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