The superhero genre continues to be wildly popular, with a number of shared universes at play. But fans who have watched the DC movies in order will recall that a few franchises live outside of those constraints, including Matt Reeves' The Batman (which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription). The filmmaker recently explained why he's not focused on working on an upcoming DC movie set within the greater DCU... and his logic totally tracks.
What we know about The Batman: Part II is limited, as it's been delayed a number of times throughout the years. But fans are still invested, partly thanks to the Emmy-winning success of The Penguin. While speaking with Josh Horowitz at the Emmys, Reeves shared why he hasn't thought about joining the DCU at all. In his words:
We haven’t talked about anything like that. We have had conversations about how things would work, and all that kind of stuff just in general, and so of course, it would be a lot of fun. I mean what I really want to do is I want to play out these stories that we began and make that sort of arrive at the conclusion that I hoped we would arrive at at the beginning, but it’s very exciting.
Fair point. While plenty of moviegoers would like to see the Planet of the Apes filmmaker work co-CEO James Gunn's new DCU, he'd rather finish the story of The Batman first. I just have to wonder how long he intends on keeping Robert Pattinson's franchise going.
The first slate of projects in the DCU is titled Gods and Monsters, and Gunn has already released three very different titles: Creature Commandos, Superman, and Peacemaker Season 2. But we shouldn't expect Reeves to get in on this type of moviemaking. At least, not anytime soon.
If The Batman: Part II comes out in 2027 as currently planned, five whole years will have passed since the first one was in theaters. That's already a ton of time, an if Matt Reeves decides to make into a bonafide trilogy, who knows how long the story could continue? Add in the time The Batman lost due to the pandemic, and it's already been such a long journey.
Fans are definitely eager to see how Reeves' story will continue after The Batman's ending, which saw Gotham City put into chaos and included a cameo from Barry Keoghan's Joker. Add in all the drama that happened to Colin Farrell's title character in The Penguin, and there are plenty of narrative threads for the filmmaker to pull from in Part II. Unfortunately, Reeves confirmed Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone won't be included in the sequel.
Our questions will likely go unanswered for some time as The Batman: Part II isn't expected to hit theaters until October 1, 2027. At least Matt Reeves seems to have a clear vision for this burgeoning franchise.
