In DC Comics, there’s a robust tradition of Elseworlds tales, where non-canonical stories are free to play out without affecting the central continuity. It seems like Gunn and Safran are approaching Batman’s movie adventures the same way. While it might get confusing for some casual viewers if there are suddenly a bunch of different Batmen running around on the big screen (“in hockey pads,” no doubt, like the copycat vigilantes in “The Dark Knight”), audiences are well-trained now in the concept of superhero multiverses. And with each film having six months or more to breathe in its own exclusive release window, people should hopefully be able to pick up on the fact that “The Batman: Part II” and “The Brave and The Bold” are as separate as Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Jared Leto’s Joker were.
We’ve heard elsewhere that Reeves is planning movies about other Batman villains like Scarecrow, Professor Pyg, and Clayface, and Gunn also mentioned “The Penguin” series starring Colin Farrell. It’s ready to begin shooting in February, according to Farrell (via Variety), and will take place one week after the events of “The Batman.”
As Reeves continues to build out his Bat-universe and Gunn and Safran reboot the DC Universe, we’ll just have to compartmentalize the different Batmen in our heads the way comic book readers do: understanding that there can be different versions of the same character, even simultaneous ones, that aren’t necessarily meant to inhabit the same reality. If there’s one thing Adam West, Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, and other Batmen have shown, it’s that you can get a lot of mileage out of the same Bat-dance when you have a strong enough interpretation of it.
“The Batman: Part II” will arrive in theaters on October 3, 2025.