The wait for Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II has been a lot longer than people had originally anticipated, especially since the first film was released in March 2022. While the release of the HBO spinoff series The Penguin helped to tide fans over, it’s still a surprising amount of time between films, with The Batman Part II scheduled for release on October 1, 2027. Reeves’ new take on the Caped Crusader and Gotham City was well received by fans and critics alike, which has only led to incredibly high anticipation for the next chapter in what has been dubbed the Batman Epic Crime Saga.
Because of this, it has taken an understandable amount of time for Matt Reeves and his creative team to craft a script that is worthy of the epic, nearly three-hour first installment in the franchise. In every live-action iteration of the world’s greatest detective, the villains of each Batman movie series have been the highlight of each film, as the character’s rogues gallery is just as iconic as the hero himself. With that being said, there has been plenty of discussion regarding which villain will go up against Robert Pattinson’s Batman since the release of the first movie. Here are 7 The Batman Part II villains, ranked by how likely they are.
Mr. Freeze
One villain that’s been highly requested for The Batman Part II is Mr. Freeze, and he’s even one that Matt Reeves has expressed interest in exploring. The filmmaker would comment that he finds the story of Victor Fries compelling, and that this is a villain whose power set and motives he would find challenging to bring to life in a grounded and emotionally driven way.
While Reeves openly discussing the possibility of the character might mean that there isn’t much of a chance of him actually being in the movie (due to how secretive the filmmaker is), it’s still an exciting concept. The sympathetic nature of the villain could mirror Batman’s own internal struggles, and, of course, there’s the fascinating potential of how Reeves could adapt the character’s more fantastical elements, such as his cryogenic suits and weapons, into something grounded and believable.
Two-Face
Harvey Dent’s absence from The Batman doesn’t feel like a coincidence. Reeves’ omission of the character feels intentional, especially since Gotham’s political infrastructure was left in shambles following the Riddler’s reign of terror during the events of the first film. The need for a new District Attorney gives The Batman Part II the perfect narrative launching pad for the character, as well as his inevitable and tragic fall from grace and into villainy.
Reeves’s passion for grounded storytelling could lead to a more procedural and horror-based interpretation of the character. While it doesn’t seem likely (especially since Christopher Nolan has already followed this same structure with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight), the idea of The Batman Part II leaning more into the psychological obsession of duality with Two-Face sounds like an exciting prospect.
Dr. Simon Hurt
MovieWeb’s own Richard Fink has already made a compelling argument for this particular villain having a place in The Batman Part II, and thus deserves a spot on this list. Simon Hurt is a villain who was introduced in Grant Morrison’s iconic run on Batman, retroactively made a part of the early comics canon by making him a nameless background character from a Batman issue published in the 1960s. Hurt embodies themes of manipulation, identity, and hidden secrets of Gotham’s history (something another villain on this list explores).
Given how much Reeves likes to lean into the mystery aspects of the Batman comics, putting a somewhat obscure villain (at least to general audiences) like Hurt could end up making The Batman Part II a much more unconventional yet engrossing sequel. Having a villain like Hurt also allows Batman to be challenged in a way that he never has been before in film, by a man who understands and knows him on a deeply personal level.
Hugo Strange
Reeves’ Gotham isn’t as stripped-down and realistic as Christopher Nolan’s, but it also avoids the gothic surrealism of Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher’s films. Instead, it sits in a middle ground between the two, where a villain like Hugo Strange could thrive. As one of Batman’s recurring foes in a variety of comics and video games, Strange is (like Riddler) less a physical threat and more of a cerebral one.
Strange’s obsession with unmasking Batman, paired with his brilliance, could push The Batman Part II further into psychological thriller territory. Strange is a grounded and unsettling villain who is well-suited to the noir style of storytelling the production team is aiming for, and there are plenty of strong interpretations to draw from (such as Batman: Arkham City.
Phantasm
If Matt Reeves wanted to introduce a villain that combines emotional tragedy and noir stylization, the Phantasm would be an inspired choice. Interestingly, the character wasn’t first introduced in the comics, but instead in the animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Having never appeared in live-action, this gives Reeves plenty of free rein to shape the character how he sees fit while also keeping the core of what worked in the animated medium.
The news of Scarlett Johansson reportedly joining The Batman Part II makes this choice of antagonist feel just slightly more possible. It’s the true identity of the Phantasm, Andrea Beaumont, that makes the character so appealing, as her romantic ties to Bruce Wayne before he became Batman add a new layer of grief for Reeves to explore. There’s also the character’s elegant design and habit of executing Gotham’s criminals, which makes Phantasm a great fit for the sequel, as well as a bold creative swing.
Hush
Hush feels like one of the most obvious choices as a villain for The Batman Part II, purely because of how much the character was alluded to in the first film. It’s most important during Riddler’s video on the Wayne Family, in which reporter Edward Elliot (father of Thomas Elliot/Hush) is mentioned. Given how much The Batman focused on the legacy of the Wayne family and Bruce’s trauma stemming from it, Hush’s intense personal vendetta feels like a natural follow-up to the first movie.
Giving Pattinson’s Batman a much more emotionally driven antagonist with a personal connection to his family could raise the stakes in a much more intense way than other villains. Moreover, Reeves could utilize Hush in a manner similar to the famous comic run titled after the character, in which Hush manipulates and uses other villains to target Batman, providing the filmmaker with the opportunity to feature more than one antagonist in a bigger and bolder sequel.
The Court of Owls
Given that Reeves has continually expressed his desire to showcase more of the detective side of Batman, the Court of Owls feels like one of the more likely choices for villains in the sequel. The shadowy organization challenges Batman both physically and mentally, as the original comic run in which they were introduced showcases Bruce Wayne as he uncovers a centuries-old conspiracy and discovers who is really in control of Gotham City.
While The Batman explored Wayne coming to terms with being Batman more as a symbol of hope and change as opposed to just purely vengeance, The Batman Part II could use the Court of Owls to give the character a much more intense existential crisis. Batman is a character who famously always seems in control, and this shadowy group would make excellent villains to destroy that illusion and challenge the hero in a way he has never been in live-action.