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The Batman Part II will include an appearance from The Penguin. Director Matt Reeves, who is preparing to begin production on the film, confirmed the news while offering some insight into the sequel.
"The plan is to shoot next year, and we're finishing up the script now," Reeves told SFX magazine (via Deadline). "Colin [Farrell] will be part of the movie. We've shared [the script] as we've been going along with DC and the studio, and they're super excited." The director also explained how the villain will fit into the story, describing The Penguin series as an "entry point."
"[It's] absolutely connected to where we leave things in the series," Reeves said. "There are details that actually connect right into the way the next movie begins, and the way that Oz enters that world as we hand the baton back to Batman, and Batman is on another case." The filmmaker also said he wants "these stories to be a meditation on the way Gotham is the way it is. It's such a brutal place, and we're digging for the answers as to why these people's lives are this way."
Reeves Revealed A Few Plot Details
Reeves also offered further insight into the plot of The Batman Part II. "[It's] going to dig into the epic story about deeper corruption, and it goes into places that he couldn't anticipate in the first one," he said. "The seeds of where this goes are all in the first movie, and it expands in a way that will show you aspects of the character you never got to see. Batman is constantly battling these forces. But those forces can't be entirely exorcised. So the next movie delves deeper into that."
When asked about other villains who might appear in the movie, Reeves said that he wants to choose realistic bad guys. "What was important to me was to find a way to take these pop icons, these mythical characters that everybody knows, and translate it so that Gotham feels like a place in our world," he explained. "We might push to the edge of the fantastical, but we would never go into full fantastical. It's meant to feel quite grounded.
While the Penguin will appear in The Batman sequel, showrunner Lauren LeFranc says The Dark Knight will likely not be included in the villain-led series. "I understand why people's desire would be to have Batman, or to think that unless Batman's in a show or a film, then it doesn't have the same punch," she said. "To me, I think it packs a different punch. Matt's films are through the lens of Batman. With Oz, you're in the city streets, you're in the grit and the muck and the grime."
The Batman Part II is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 2, 2026. The Penguin premieres on HBO on Sept. 19.
Source: Deadline
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