Development
Warner Bros. Pictures intended for the standalone DC Comics–based film The Batman (2022) to start a new trilogy of Batman films by May 2019. Some cast members were signed on for future installments by that November, including Colin Farrell, who was attached to portray the Penguin in three Batman films. By September 2021, The Batman co-writer and director Matt Reeves and his producing partner Dylan Clark had plans for that film to start its own shared universe focused on the character Batman, which they referred to as the "Batman Epic Crime Saga". This would remain separated from the concurrent DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise and its version of the character, portrayed by Ben Affleck. Reeves had suggested to studio executives during production of The Batman that a sequel could further explore the Penguin, but they instead wanted to use that idea for a spin-off television series, The Penguin (2024), which would set up a sequel. Leading up to The Batman's release, Clark said it would establish what potential sequels could expand upon, while Reeves and star Robert Pattinson expressed interest in a sequel introducing Batman's sidekick Robin and featuring supervillains such as the Court of Owls, Calendar Man, Mr. Freeze, or Hush.
In April 2022, Discovery, Inc. merged with WarnerMedia, the owner of DC and Warner Bros., to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEO David Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructure DC Entertainment, and Zaslav began searching for an equivalent to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to lead the new subsidiary. A sequel to The Batman was announced to be in development at the Warner Bros. CinemaCon panel later that month, when Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich said the "entire team" would return from the first film, including Reeves as writer and director and Pattinson as the star. Negotiations for Reeves's return had lasted longer than expected because a deal was not guaranteed under the new Warner Bros. Discovery leadership, but he signed his production company 6th & Idaho Productions to an overall film production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures in August that included his work on the sequel to The Batman. This deal was seen as a reassurance that the studio was committed to supporting filmmakers, following the shelving of the nearly completed DCEU film Batgirl. Clark and Mattson Tomlin, an uncredited writer on The Batman, returned to work with Reeves on the sequel as a producer and co-writer, respectively. Reeves and Tomlin wanted to elevate the sequel from the first film and were expected to start writing in the following weeks.
In October 2022, Reeves was meeting with writers and directors for several film and television series spin-offs from The Batman that were in early development alongside the sequel and centered on members of Batman's rogues gallery, such as Scarecrow, Clayface, and Professor Pyg. Later that month, writer and director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran, who had both worked on multiple DCEU projects, were hired to serve as the co-chairmen and co-CEOs of the new subsidiary DC Studios. They began overseeing all DC Comics adaptations moving forward, including Reeves's The Batman sequel, which was not expected to be released until 2025 at the earliest, while Reeves continued work on the script. In November, Zaslav said there would not be multiple versions of Batman moving forward, while Reeves, Gunn, and Safran subsequently discussed how they could avoid their plans from clashing. The latter two briefly considered integrating Pattinson's Batman into DC Studio's main franchise, the DC Universe (DCU), which Gunn initially denied, but they respected Reeves's decision to keep his plans separate from the DCU.
Reeves confirmed that he and Tomlin were writing the script by January 2023. At the end of that month, DC Studios announced that the sequel was titled The Batman – Part II and set a release date of October 3, 2025. It was set under the "DC Elseworlds" label, which is for projects that do not fit into the main DCU continuity. At the same time, a separate DCU Batman film was announced as The Brave and the Bold, which features a different version of Batman from Pattinson's portrayal. In February 2023, filming was scheduled to start that November at DC Studios's production hub at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in England, and Reeves confirmed that Andy Serkis would reprise his role as Alfred Pennyworth. By March, Clayface was reported to have a major role in the film, which Gunn later debunked; Reeves was subsequently attached to produce DC Studios projects for the "Crime Saga" and the DCU, including the DCU film Clayface (2026).
By June 2023, the start of filming was delayed until March 2024 due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, but the release date was not expected to be affected. Reeves and The Batman cinematographer Greig Fraser had discussed working on the sequel, but pre-production was put on hold until the writers' strike ended in late September, when work was expected to resume imminently. Gunn heard a pitch for the film by December, and Reeves was expected to turn in a draft of the script by early February 2024, ahead of casting and a filming start scheduled between August and October 2024. In February 2024, Jeffrey Wright said he would reprise his role as Jim Gordon, after indicating that the character would be elevated from a Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) lieutenant. In March, the film's release date was delayed to October 2, 2026, due to the wider 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, which had caused several central sound stages intended for the production to be reserved through the end of 2024. Consequently, filming was not expected to begin until April 2025, but the delay gave Reeves more time to write. He confirmed in July that Farrell would return as the Penguin. Farrell initially said he would appear in five or six scenes, but later said he had only two.
Due to Reeves's meticulous filmmaking process, he was committed to perfecting the script, which he consequently described as being slow. He had shared parts of the script with DC Studios between the middle and end of 2024, but would not submit a first draft or full script until he believed it was ready. Reeves said the sequel would follow Batman investigating another case that further explores the corruption and division within Gotham City in the aftermath of its flooding. Part II occurs a few weeks after The Penguin. Reeves said he was finishing the script in September but was uncertain whether Fraser would return due to his busy schedule. Production was still expected to start in 2025. At the end of December 2024, the film's release date was delayed to October 1, 2027, to allow more time for writing the full script. The film was reportedly left untitled, but Reeves and DC Studios still referred to it as The Batman Part II. At that time, filming was expected to start in the third quarter of 2025 and rely heavily on visual effects. Zoë Kravitz was also indicated to be reprising her role as Catwoman, but she was later not expected to return. Following rumors that Pattinson's portrayal of Batman could be integrated into the DCU, Reeves stated in January 2025 that this was not planned and that he was focused on making Part II and his "Crime Saga", but was receptive to the idea if it was reasonable to do. Gunn stated that such an integration had not been seriously discussed and was unlikely to happen, and he did not expect Reeves's sequel to be released in the same calendar year as The Brave and the Bold. That film's director Andy Muschietti said DC Studios had a strategy to ensure that the two films did not conflict with each other.
By February 2025, filming for Part II was expected to start at the end of 2025, before it was pushed back in the following months until January or March 2026, scheduled after Pattinson's commitments to the 2026 films The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three. Reeves had submitted several pages of the script for over half a year by the middle of May, when the first full draft was reportedly expected to be delivered by the end of that month. The script was subsequently expected by late June, over a year after Gunn and Safran's original expectation. Gunn defended the delays, citing Reeves's meticulous writing process and the sufficient time provided, similar to The Batman. Gunn also debunked further rumors of the sequel being canceled and reaffirmed that Reeves's "Crime Saga" was important to DC Studios. Matthew Belloni at Puck reported that the film's delays had frustrated some executives, including Zaslav, yet he debunked rumors that the studio was prepared to "move on" from Reeves if he did not soon finish writing. Belloni noted that Reeves had been dealing with personal issues during the sequel's development, but that the film was still intended to make its release date, as long as production proceeded smoothly. Reeves and Tomlin announced that the script was completed at the end of June, when the film was titled The Batman: Part II. The script was submitted to DC Studios by the middle of July. Reeves soon explained that the production of Part II took longer than he wanted due to various factors, including personal reasons, and that he wanted to ensure the script had reached a point where he and Tomlin were proud of it. Because Reeves sought to keep the film's mystery plot secret, he sent the script to the cast and crew in a highly secure, locked pouch accessible only via a code.
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