The Batman Part II: Release date, cast and latest sequel news

The film – which will be the second to star Robert Pattinson as The Caped Crusader following The Batman in 2022 – exists separately to Gunn's new franchise, although there have been some suggestions (no more than rumours at this stage) that it could later be folded into the DCU.

Fans have already been waiting a while for the second chapter in the saga, and although there's still a fair bit longer to go, we were given some good news at the start of 2025 that filming was set to commence later in the year.

Speaking to Deadline at the Golden Globes, writer and director Matt Reeves said: "I can tell you that we’ll be shooting this year" while the trade publication also revealed that they'd heard a summer start date was planned, keeping things on track for the already delayed 2027 release.

The sequel is set to be a star-studded event, with Reeves revealing that it will feature Colin Farrell's Penguin – who was most recently seen in his own critically acclaimed spin-off series The Penguin – as well as Andy Serkis as Alfred and Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon.

Interestingly, Pattinson's Batman did not appear in The Penguin, with Reeves recently explaining to Digital Spy: "[Batman’s] out there trying to grapple with the aftermath of everything that happened, which to some degree he blames himself for."

Reeves also said that fans can expect the film to "dig into the epic story about deeper corruption, and it goes into places that he couldn’t anticipate in the first one. The seeds of where this goes are all in the first movie. It expands in a way that will show you aspects of the character you never got to see".

Fans are also expecting Barry Keoghan's Joker to make an appearance, following his cameo in the first film, but Keoghan himself has said he "can't say much" about his ongoing role in the franchise.

But what else do we know about Reeves's plans for The Batman Part II?

Be warned: spoilers for The Batman follow.

The Batman Part II release date

We still have a long time to wait, as the film is now scheduled to be released in cinemas on Friday 1st October 2027.

On Friday 27th December 2024, it was reported that the release date for the film had been pushed back yet again.

This is the second delay for the Batman sequel. In March 2024, it was delayed a year, from October 2025 to October 2026, and now it's been delayed until 2027.

Following the second delay, James Gunn took to Threads to write: "Matt is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write.

"Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films."

He later defended the gap, explaining: "To be fair, a 5 year gap or more is fairly common in sequels. 7 years between Alien and Aliens. 14 years between Incredibles. 7 years between the first two Terminators. 13 years between Avatars. 36 years between Top Guns. And, of course, 6 years between Guardians Vol 2 and Vol 3."

The title was confirmed on 31st January 2023 as The Batman Part II.

The Batman Part II cast and character speculation

Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz will be reprising their roles as billionaire socialite Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, and Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, in The Batman Part II, it was confirmed at CinemaCon 2022.

Pattinson previously discussed his intentions for the trilogy in a 2021 interview with Empire, noting: "I’ve made a kind of map for where Bruce’s psychology would grow over two more movies. I would love to do it."

He also confirmed that if Warner Bros was to approach him about reprising his role once or twice more, he wouldn’t hesitate to say yes.

"I would love to do it," Pattinson said, as producer Dylan Clark added: "As the first stand-alone Batman in 10 years, the hope is we can lay a foundation that you can build stories upon."

There's also plenty of scope for more character development when it comes to Selina Kyle (Big Little Lies' Zoë Kravitz), who is clearly still developing her alter-ego of Catwoman in The Batman.

The same goes for detective James Gordon (Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright), who's only a lieutenant in The Batman rather than a Commissioner, as he's more widely known.

Sadly, John Turturro is unlikely to return as Falcone after he was shot and killed by antagonist The Riddler/Edward Nashton (Paul Dano), and the same goes for Peter Sarsgaard as the late DA Gil Colson.

However, we do know that Colin Farrell is expected to be back as Penguin, following his character's development in his own spin-off show.

Reeves told Variety in September 2024: "There are details that actually connect right into the way the next movie begins, and the way that Oz enters that world as we hand the baton back to Batman, and Batman is on another case."

It also seems possible that Dano could reprise his role as The Riddler, having told RadioTimes.com, when asked about potential sequels: "If I'm called back to Gotham, I'll be there."

Then, there's the question mark over Barry Keoghan's role as the Joker, after he was teased in a cameo scene at the end of the first film. Keoghan has remained tight-lipped about a potential appearance, but for our money it seems very likely he'll make at least another short appearance, perhaps teeing up a bigger role in a third film.

Here's a list of who we expect to see in The Batman Part II:

• Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman
• Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman
• Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin
• Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon
• Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth

The Batman Part II plot speculation

Unsurprisingly, specific plot details are being kept under wraps for now, but Pattinson has shared which Batman villains he would like to see tackled next in the series.

"I’d love to do something like Court of Owls," the actor told Den of Geek, adding: "There are elements of The Batman which are kind of horror and I think it really feels quite new for Batman."

Pattinson has also mentioned the killer Calendar Man as a potential villain, as well as Mr Freeze.

Reeves recently told Collider that he wanted to do explore a more "grounded" take on Mr Freeze, explaining: "In my view, I just feel drawn to finding the grounded version of everything. So to me it would be a challenge in an interesting way to try and figure out how that could happen, even the idea of something like Mr Freeze, that is such a great story, right?

"I think there's actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great."

Asked around the time of the first film's release whether there were any specific comics he'd like to see adapted for a sequel, producer Dylan Clark was rather more vague.

"I think it's incumbent on us to create new stories that are true to the comics that people know and love," he told RadioTimes.com.

"So, you know, on this one, Robert read all the comics and there were certain things that we borrowed from multiple storylines.

"But really, Matt wanted to create a unique way into Batman and create a unique story. And then my hope is that people go, 'Oh, that's from Long Halloween, that's from Year One, is that a little bit of Killing Joke? And is that Arkham Asylum there?' Those things are important to us, but really for us we wanted to do our own story."

Clark also said the creative team "inevitably" had ideas about sequels, but remained relatively tight-lipped about what those ideas might be.

"Do we have ideas about the sequels? You just inevitably do, because you'll start to say, you know, wouldn't it be cool if... you know, what we haven't seen yet. And, you know, we didn't get enough of Alfred in this movie, or, you know, Gordon's gonna do this in his career.

"So, you know, with 80 years of Batman in the canon and all these great comics, there are multiple storylines that are just exciting."

Speaking to Variety in 2024, Reeves teased the plot of the film even more, saying it is "going to dig into the epic story about deeper corruption, and it goes into places that he couldn’t anticipate in the first one. The seeds of where this goes are all in the first movie. It expands in a way that will show you aspects of the character you never got to see."

He continued: "Batman is constantly battling these forces. But those forces can’t be entirely exorcised. So the next movie delves deeper into that."

And at the Golden Globes at the start of 2025, he added to Deadline: "We’re doing something where the story continues from, but I hope that people will be surprised by."

As for the idea of the films being folded into Gunn's DCU, he said: "I mean, it really comes down to whether or not it makes sense. What's been great is there was a story that I wanted to tell that we're calling The Epic Crime Saga which is the thrust of what we wanted to do. It's been important to me to be able to play that out. James and Peter have been really, really great about that and they're letting us do that."

Is there a trailer for a sequel?

Hold your horses!

It's far too early for a trailer, but now that a sequel has been given the go-ahead, fans might not have too long to wait.

Watch this space!

• Read more: The Batman ending explained: How does Robert Pattinson film end?
• Read more: How to watch Batman movies in order and where to stream
• Read more: The Batman producer reveals there are “inevitably” ideas for sequels
• Read more: The Batman soundtrack - full list of music in DC Comics film

The Batman Part II will be released on Friday 1st October 2027.

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