Matt Reeves’ The Batman was a critical and commercial success, and it has been one of DC’s most successful movies in recent years, which is why it comes as a surprise that The Batman 2 hasn’t been officially announced yet. The DC Extended Universe hasn’t been the successful superhero connected universe Warner Bros. expected, and after a couple of failures and behind-the-scenes controversies, the studio has had to change its plans for the DCEU a couple of times. Among those changes was bringing another version of Batman outside the DCEU, which allowed a darker and more complex story that was a hit with the audience.
Simply titled The Batman, and directed by Matt Reeves, the movie introduced Robert Pattinson as a young Bruce Wayne in his second year of fighting crime in Gotham City. The Batman also explored the Caped Crusader’s detective side as he worked alongside Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and the Gotham City Police Department to catch the Riddler (Paul Dano), while also uncovering some of Gotham’s darkest secrets through the Penguin (Colin Farrell) and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) with the help of Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz). The Batman was praised for the performances of the main cast, its cinematography, action sequences, story, and Reeves’ direction, and it’s currently among the top 5 highest-grossing movies of 2022, and while the ending left the door open for a sequel, the future of The Batman is unclear.
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Although The Batman 2 was announced to be happening back in April during Warner Bros’ CinemaCon panel, the studio has gone through big changes with a massive merger that made way for Warner Bros. Discovery and led to a big shake-up in the DCEU and other DC universes. The Batman 2’s future is now uncertain as, according to some reports, it’s currently listed as “in development” and hasn’t been given an official greenlight, making viewers question if Pattinson’s Batman will return in the near future or not.
Will The Batman 2 Happen (& When Could It Be Announced)?
At the end of The Batman, The Riddler was incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital, where he befriended none other than the Joker (Barry Keoghan), Gotham was flooded and severely damaged, Selina left as she deemed the city beyond saving, and Batman aided recovery efforts while vowing to inspire hope in the city. All this – especially The Riddler’s meeting with the Joker – leaves the door open for a sequel, which became all the more likely after The Batman was a huge box office hit. In addition to that, The Batman is intended to launch a Batman shared universe (still separate from the DCEU), with the spinoff TV series The Penguin and at least two sequels planned, and at the aforementioned CinemaCon panel, Pattinson and Reeves were announced to be returning for The Batman 2.
While the recent updates on The Batman 2 are discouraging as it all points to the movie being years away, it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise due to all the changes Warner Bros. has been going through, especially in its DC Comics branch, with the cancellation of Batgirl and The Wonder Twins and other important changes. The studio is rethinking its approach to its DC branch, and unfortunately, that means that big projects like The Batman 2 and Wonder Woman 3 are suffering the consequences of it. However, this doesn’t mean that The Batman 2 won’t happen, and if the DC FanDome event happens this year, there’s hope for a The Batman sequel to be officially announced, though it’s likely that it will take a while to enter production, more so as The Penguin is intended to be released before The Batman 2, and the series doesn’t have a release date yet.
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