The Batman: Part II (2028): Release Date, Cast & Everything We Know

By TwilightVibes · Updated September 2026

Not a trailer yet — just Matt Reeves' first camera test of Pattinson back in the suit.

Yes, this is a real update, not a repeat of last year's news. The Batman: Part II has been delayed so many times that half the internet has stopped believing it exists, but there's finally something concrete to report: a new release date, a big new cast, and thirty seconds of moody camera-test footage that fans are still dissecting frame by frame. We've sorted what's officially confirmed from what's just strong rumor, and we'll be upfront about which is which.

What Is The Batman: Part II About?

Plot details are still tightly guarded. What we do know is that the story picks up after HBO's The Penguin and is set during the winter that follows the flooding of Gotham at the end of the first film. Back in a 2024 interview with SFX magazine, Matt Reeves said the sequel "goes into places that he couldn't anticipate in the first one," promising to show sides of Bruce Wayne "you never got to see."

The biggest thread fans are tracking is Harvey Dent, Gotham's district attorney in the comics and the man who becomes Two-Face. More on how solid that rumor really is below. The other thing that jumps out is the weather: between the "Snow Tires" Batmobile test Reeves posted in May and the snowy camera test in July, this one looks like it trades the first film's constant rain for a proper Gotham winter. Honestly, we're here for it.

Release Date & Why It Keeps Moving

The Batman: Part II is currently scheduled for February 18, 2028 — a date that has moved three separate times. It was originally set for October 2025, pushed to October 2026 because of the 2023 Hollywood strikes, then to October 2027 because the script wasn't finished yet, and finally to February 2028. Warner Bros. says that last move gives Reeves more time in post-production. It also happens to clear the October 2027 slot for J.J. Abrams' The Great Beyond, and it lands the film on the four-day Presidents Day weekend.

Timeline: How We Got Here

• April 2022A sequel is announced at CinemaCon, a few weeks after the first film opens. The original target is October 2025.
• March 2024Moved to October 2026 after the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes disrupted the schedule.
• December 2024Moved again to October 2027. Gunn said the only reason was that a finished script didn't exist yet.
• May 2026Reeves confirms the new cast members, starts camera tests, and posts the "Snow Tires" Batmobile clip.
• Summer 2026Filming gets underway in the UK. Set photos from Liverpool leak online, and reports say the shoot involves eleven weeks of night work.
• July 15, 2026Reeves posts the camera test on Vimeo and reveals the new date: February 18, 2028, in IMAX.

For context on what the wait is up against: the first film opened in March 2022 with about $134 million domestically and finished with over $770 million worldwide. That's a huge hit to follow up, and a big reason Warner Bros. keeps protecting the release slot. Reeves has also said the plan is a trilogy, with a third film to follow.

Cast

Also in the cast: Charles Dance, widely reported to be playing Harvey's father (the character's first name varies by outlet), Jayme Lawson returning as Mayor Bella Réal, Gil Perez-Abraham returning as Officer Martinez, plus Sebastian Koch and Brian Tyree Henry in roles that haven't been disclosed. Barry Keoghan is expected to return as the Joker, presumably still locked up in Arkham, though that hasn't been officially confirmed either.

Wait, Is Sebastian Stan Really Two-Face?

Probably, but it's worth being precise, because this is the part of the story where headlines have run ahead of the facts. Reeves announced Stan's casting himself with the line "In a Gotham state of mind… welcome," but he never named the role. Trade reports say Harvey Dent, and Stan's own comments to Deadline in May ("many roles in this one," plus a mention that the makeup team has worked out how his disfigurement will look) point the same way. That's a strong hint, not an announcement.

It got messier in August. A French outlet, Le Journal du Dimanche, published an interview that had Stan saying he played Harvey Dent, then quietly removed the line. Forbes, which had run with it, corrected its story, and TheWrap reported that the quote was incorrect. In the same interview, Stan says he can't say anything about the film. There was also a June rumor from a scooper that Stan might be playing the killer Victor Zsasz instead, with Brian Tyree Henry as Dent. That one is unconfirmed too. So: Dent is the most likely answer, Two-Face is the most likely destination, and even then it's an open question whether the transformation happens in this film or gets saved for the third.

Confirmed vs. Rumored

With this much speculation floating around, here's a quick scorecard of what's solid and what isn't, as of September 2026.

What to Watch Before It Arrives

Since the wait is long, you have plenty of time for a rewatch. Two things are worth your evenings.

The Batman (2022). Reeves has said the seeds of the sequel are all planted in the first film, so it's the essential one. Pay attention to how it ends, with Gotham flooded and the Riddler locked up in Arkham. Everything in Part II starts from there.

The Penguin (HBO, 2024). It's easy to treat this as optional, but Reeves called it the "entry point" for the sequel and said details in it connect straight into how the next movie begins. Oz Cobb's rise in the flooded city is the exact situation Part II picks up from, so we'd call it worth the watch. Colin Farrell's performance carries it.

And if you're the type who wants to go in fresh, that's fine too. The first film alone will get you most of the way.

Is It Connected to the Wider DC Universe?

No — and this is worth clarifying because it trips people up. Reeves' Batman films exist under DC's "Elseworlds" banner, a deliberately separate continuity from James Gunn and Peter Safran's rebooted DC Universe (the one with Superman and the rest of the shared-universe films and shows). The Batman: Part II won't reference or be referenced by the mainline DCU, and Pattinson's Batman isn't the same version audiences will see anywhere else.

Why People Are Still Talking About It

Partly stubbornness, honestly. After three delays, every scrap of news gets amplified because fans are starving for anything concrete. But the camera test did its job: a brief, moody glimpse of Pattinson back in costume was enough to start a full frame-by-frame breakdown, from the cowl's slightly longer ears (Reeves replied "You are not crazy" to a fan who spotted it) to whether that's snow or rain drifting through the police lights. Add a stacked cast and a new cinematographer in Erik Messerschmidt, who won an Oscar for Mank, and there's a real sense that this is finally, actually happening.

There's also the simple fact that The Penguin proved this version of Gotham still has an audience hungry for more. Whether that patience holds for another seventeen months or so remains to be seen. Our take: a snowy, corruption-heavy Gotham with Bruce at the center is exactly the direction we wanted, and we'd rather wait for it than get a rushed version.

FAQ: The Batman: Part II (2028)

Another genre detour, we know. Blame the group chat. Back to Forks next post, promise.