Holy disappointment, Bamtan! DC fans got a double-dose of bad Batman movie news to end the year, as it has been reported that both the DCU Batman film The Brave and the Bold and Matt Reeves’ sequel The Batman: Part II are still several years away from being released in theaters. The Batman 2 delay has since been officially confirmed by DC Studios co-head and Superman movie director James Gunn, in a social media post you can read below.
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Why Is The Batman 2 Release Date Being Delayed?
Over on his Threads account, Gunn responded (as usual) to a fan’s inquiry about whether the original trade report about The Batman: Part II being delayed was true or not. Gunn confirmed it was true, writing that, ” Sure. Yes, it is true. The only reason for the delay is there isn’t a full script (those of you who follow me here probably know that already). Matt [Reeves] is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write. Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting, and post-production on big films.”
This echoes statements Gunn made multiple times during the holiday season, where he directly contradicted reports about The Batman 2’s script status, saying, “There hasn’t yet been a first draft of a script.”
[RELATED: Matt Reeves Confirms The Penguin Season 2 Talks]
Troubling Signs for The Batman Universe
For those keeping count: The Batman: Part II is now set for release in October of 2027, which will be over five years since the first film’s release in March of 2022 – and over a decade since Reeves first came on board to transform Ben Affleck’s Batman DCEU film into the concept that became The Batman Universe. Reeves’ production has been all but cursed, with the first film’s production smashed in half by the arrival of the COVID pandemic, resulting in tricky edits, revisions, and reshoots to get the film done and release it into a theatrical market still limping its way back from ruin. The Hollywood Strikes of 2023 once again knocked Reeves’ planned production timeline off its original schedule, while many of the planned spinoffs (Gotham P.D., Arkham Asylum) have died in development. Behind the scenes,  Robert Pattinson is moving on to do a Christopher Nolan movie next year, and co-star Jeffrey Wright admitted he hasn’t talked to Matt Reeves about the sequel “for a while.”
Lately, there have been rumors that Gunn’s incoming DCU film franchise (which launches with Superman next year) could be creating a “wait and see” situation for The Batman franchise. That situation may have only gotten more complicated since the breakout success of The Penguin TV series has made The Batman franchise a legitimate multimedia premium brand – a level of success the new DCU has yet to achieve.
That’s all to say: it seems a bit curious to hear that Matt Reeves never hit a script idea or draft for The Batman: Part II since 2022, in all the time he’s had to work through delays – as well as during planning and launching The Penguin, a series previously said to lead directly into The Batman sequel. It feels more and more likely that Reeves may be having to work around new constraints about using characters and storylines that Gunn could want to focus on in the DCU (Clayface), or that, as stated, DC Studios is waiting to see how lucrative a brighter, family-friendlier Superman movie really is in terms of box office and merchandising. If Gunn’s film is a hit, then Reeves’ Batman franchise seems like it will be hard to re-invest in as a dark, Noir, blockbuster movie that doesn’t sell a bunch of toys, clothes, or other accessories.
The Batman: Part II now has a release date of October 1, 2027.
