The Batman Part II adds Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan and more
Some new faces in Gotham
Matt Reeves has spent the last few months quietly assembling one of the most stacked superhero casts in recent memory. The director has now confirmed that Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Charles Dance and Sebastian Koch have all joined The Batman Part II.
There’s an amusing amount of superhero crossover happening here. Scarlett Johansson spent more than a decade in the Marvel machine as Black Widow. At the same time, Sebastian Stan became one of the MCU’s most popular characters as Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier. Brian Tyree Henry has already dipped into comic-book worlds too, appearing in Eternals and voicing Miles Morales’ father in the hugely acclaimed Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The Batman Part II is looking increasingly like a very expensive comic-con guest list.
Rather than announcing the cast through a big studio reveal, Reeves drip-fed the news through a series of slightly chaotic GIF posts on X.
Johansson’s casting came alongside a clip from Under the Skin with the caption “Next exit, Gotham… Welcome”, while Stan’s reveal arrived hours later with “In a Gotham state of mind… Welcome.”
The biggest talking point is still Stan, who has long been rumoured to be playing Harvey Dent, the Gotham district attorney who eventually becomes Two-Face. Reeves still hasn’t confirmed exactly who anyone is playing, but fans are already deep into speculation mode, especially with reports that Charles Dance could be playing Harvey Dent’s father.
Johansson’s role is also being kept firmly under wraps, though comic fans have started theorising she could appear as Gilda Dent, Harvey’s wife. Given Reeves’ version of Gotham leans heavily into noir detective stories and psychological breakdowns, these would all be fitting additions.
The first entry in this iteration of Batman was a huge hit when it landed back in 2022, pulling in more than $770 million worldwide while giving audiences a younger, moodier Bruce Wayne played by Robert Pattinson. These films, so far at least, are set to remain separate from James Gunn's DC Universe. Reeves swapped glossy superhero spectacle for serial killer horror, rain-soaked streets and emo-levels of unresolved trauma, with Paul Dano’s Riddler acting more like a Zodiac-style extremist than a classic comic book villain.
Returning for the sequel are Pattinson alongside Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred and Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb aka Penguin, who recently got his own spin-off series. There's been no mention of Barry Keoghan, who was teased as The Joker at the end of the first film, so it will be interesting to see if or when this tease will be fleshed out. The man does have a pretty busy schedule with all the Beatles biopics after all...
Very little is known about the actual plot of The Batman Part II, though Reeves recently teased snow-covered sets and a Batmobile driving through heavy winter conditions, suggesting Gotham is about to get even colder and somehow even more miserable. He has also hinted that the sequel will spend more time exploring Bruce Wayne himself rather than just Batman.
After multiple script delays pushed the film from 2026 to 2027, production is finally underway in the UK ahead of its release on October 1st, 2027.
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