The Batman II May Not Be About The Joker After All
Who will the Caped Crusader face off with next?
It’s been years since Matt Reeves first introduced his vision for Batman in 2022 — and thanks to a few delays, it’ll be another two years before he returns with a sequel. Reeves is still working on a script for The Batman II, which may surprise those who’ve seen its predecessor. The Batman sets up a pretty straightforward story moving forward: by introducing the Joker (played by Barry Keoghan) at the very end of the film, The Batman II seemed headed for familiar territory. Just as Christopher Nolan did with The Dark Knight, Reeves was clearly teasing the introduction of Batman’s most infamous villain.
As exciting as it’d be to see a new version of these characters face off, though, Reeves may not actually be focusing on the Joker. Speaking to Josh Horowitz at this year’s Golden Globes, the director spoke about his progress on The Batman II — and revealed that the finished film may be “surprising” for fans.
“The story is a continuation [of The Batman] in a certain way and completely different in another,” Reeves said. He even described his attitude to the theories he’s encountered online: “You just look at them casually and go like, ‘Oh, is that what they think now? Interesting, OK.’”
The Batman set up the Joker as an established villain, but he may not play a huge role in the sequel.
Reeves has always been cryptic when it comes to future plans for his “Epic Crime Saga,” but his conversation with Horowitz may tell us a lot about what’s in store for The Batman II. Pundits have suggested that the Joker, Clayface, or Scarecrow will step up as the new main villain, but the bulk of these theories overlook the villain that’s been there from the beginning. The Batman positioned Oz Cobb, aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell) as a major threat to Gotham, and he only gained more power over the criminal underworld in his spinoff series. The Penguin’s season finale even teased the Bat-signal in its final moments, which means that Batman will be on his way to rain on Oz’s parade very soon.
It’s safe to assume that The Batman II will continue major threads from The Penguin, but diverge from the end of The Batman itself. The Joker could still play a role in the sequel, just as Penguin was a minor player in The Batman. But there’s no telling whether Reeves plans to set him up as the next Big Bad — or has even thought about future projects beyond The Batman II. We’ll just have to wait and see what he has in store, and how the Joker could fit into Reeves’ plans.
