The Batman 2 discussions are already happening, Matt Reeves confirms

Before The Batman swoops into theaters on March 4th, Matt Reeves has confirmed that plans for a sequel are already in motion. Reeves revealed that he’s talking to Warner Bros. about The Batman 2 while attending the film’s premiere in London. While speaking with The Independent, Reeves expressed his excitement for the franchise by confirming several Bat projects in various stages of development.

“I really believe in what we’ve done and I’d be excited to tell more stories… We are already telling other stories in the streaming space, we’re doing stuff on HBO Max, we’re doing a Penguin show with Colin [Farrell], which is gonna be super cool. And we’re working on some other stuff too but we have started talking about another movie.”

Word of the Penguin series was first reported back in September, but at the time, it wasn’t clear whether or not Colin Farrell would reprise his role. Thankfully, the actor is returning, and in addition to starring in the series, he will also executive produce. The Batman spin-off series will reportedly tell a “Scarface-like” tale of the Penguin’s rise to power in the Gotham City criminal underworld. Lauren LeFranc is set to write the Penguin series, with The Batman director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clark also executive producing. Colin Farrell is damn near unrecognizable as the Penguin in The Batman, and from what little we’ve seen, he also seems to be having an absolute ball with the character.

The Penguin series isn’t the only spin-off of The Batman in the works for HBO Max. There’s also a series revolving around the Gotham Police Department which will build upon the film and explore the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City. Matt Reeves has teased that the series will be a prequel to his movie and be told from the POV of a crooked cop as it goes back over many years of corruption within Gotham.

While news about The Batman 2 is no surprise, it’s nice to have the rumblings confirmed by someone as high up the food chain as Reeves. His work on films like Cloverfield and The War for the Planet of the Apes has cemented him as a filmmaker who knows his way around dark worlds, and I’m eagerly awaiting a look at his version of the Dark Knight. I reserved my tickets for The Batman just the other day. Have you?

“In my view, I just feel drawn to finding the grounded version of everything,” Reeves recently told Collider. “So to me it would be a challenge in an interesting way to try and figure out how that could happen, even the idea of something like Mr. Freeze, that such a great story, right? I think there’s actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great.

“So, I love the fantastical side of Batman, but this iteration, obviously, while being, to me, I think it is very comics faithful, but I don’t think that this one is necessary, it doesn’t lean as hard into the fantastical, I guess. But I think to me what would be interesting would be to try and unwind the fantastical and see, well, how could that make sense here? And so that’s kind of my view, how I see it.”

Could Mr. Freeze be one of the villains featured in The Batman 2? I certainly hope so. I’d also love to see Clayface or the Mad Hatter explored in an action-packed sequel. Let us know which villains you’d like to see appear in The Batman 2 in the comments section below.