The Batman 2: Long-gestating sequel casts Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan
More than four years after Robert Pattinson donned the cowl and scowl, the Batman sequel is making progress. Scarlett Johansson has joined the cast and she’s not the only one.
It’s been more than four years since Gotham City flooded and everyone stopped whinging about whether or not Robert Pattinson could pull off the Caped Crusader’s famous cowl and scowl.
He could and he did. Was it a touch emo? It was, but Batman has often been a bit of a brooder. A sunny disposition would be too jarring with the gravelly voice.
Finally, there has been some movement on the promised sequel with director Matt Reeves confirming that Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan have joined Pattinson for the upcoming film, which currently has a release date October 2027.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Johansson’s role is under wraps for now. This marks her second comic book movie franchise, having spent a decade as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel films.
Obviously you can play for both teams. Stan is still Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier in the Marvel flicks, and in The Batman II will play Harvey Dent, the Gotham City district attorney who becomes the antagonist Two-Face.
Charles Dance had previously been confirmed to play Harvey’s dad, Christopher, adding to his repertoire of imposing and scarring paterfamilias characters. Dance, if you’ll recall, was Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones, and more recently was another emotionally abusive father in Frankenstein.
The rest of the new announced cast includes Brian Tyree Henry and Sebastian Koch. They will join returnees Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, Jayme Lawson as Mayor Bella Real and Gil Perez-Abraham as Officer Martinez.
Zoe Kravitz played Selina Kyle/Catwoman in the first movie but she is not yet associated with the sequel. The character was seen at the end of the previous film leaving Gotham. There was also in the first film, a voice cameo from Barry Keoghan as the Joker but no word on whether that the Irish actor will appear here or if that was being teased for something else down the line.
It appears the production is in motion as Reeves last week shared a couple of grainy images photographed off on-set monitors. One looked to be of the Batmobile racing through a snowy Gotham, the other was of a boxy sedan.
Filming was scheduled to start in June in London, Liverpool and Glasgow, and is expected to be more of a “detective story” than the previous instalment.
This sequel was announced a month after The Batman’s premiere in early 2022 but the scripting process has taken longer than expected.
Reeves told The Hollywood Reporter in September, “It’s been a journey that is taking longer than I would’ve wanted for a lot of reasons, a lot of personal reasons.
“But the most important reason is getting it to a place where I just felt like it was the best script we could possibly write.”
While The Batman II was in gestation, fans of this particular corner of the DC screen universe could satiate themselves with The Penguin spin-off series.
Farrell reprised his character from the first film as Oz Cobb, a mid-level enforcer for the Falcone gang who manoeuvres his rise through the criminal underworld. The HBO drama was highly praised for leaning more into the mob thriller genre than being a superhero show.
It was nominated for 24 Emmy Awards including outstanding limited series and acting gongs for Farrell and Cristin Milioti, the latter of whom won for her performance as the volatile Sofia Falcone.
The Penguin had been designed as a limited series but its popularity and reception has led to conversations about a continuation.
Reeves’ Batman universe sits apart from the main DC screen projects, differentiated under “DC Elseworlds”.
James Gunn has oversight over DC’s connected narrative universe which includes the relaunched Superman and soon-to-be-released Supergirl.
Gunn has said he intends to do his version of Batman within his own portfolio but admitted, in July 2025, that he had run into problems with it. Pattinson would not be playing that version of Batman if/when it comes into being.
Previous actors who have played a live-action Batman on screen include Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Adam West. Will Arnett voiced the character in Lego form.
