EXCLUSIVE: The Batman II Is "A Radical Change" Says Robert Pattinson - Here's What He Might Mean

Flashback to 2022: the Caped Crusader returned to the big screen to huge acclaim and box office success thanks to Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson.

The Batman, made while the DCEU was still just about alive, but adjacent to the dwindling efforts of Zack Snyder and co., saw a very different approach to the character. Bruce Wayne, played by Pattinson, was stripped back to his foundations, to great effect.

Young, emotionally damaged, and vengeful, his Wayne was part of a decaying Gotham City, where corruption has infiltrated every single level of its society. Batman, meanwhile, was still in his infancy, only a year or so into his mission of cleaning up his beloved city from the criminals and the corrupt. 

This week at the Venice Film Festival, Pattinson told JustWatch that the sequel, The Batman II, will be “radically different” from its predecessor. So, just how radical is it going to be?

Bruce Wayne Could Become the Hero

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last year, director Matt Reeves said of The Batman Part II: “The things that it does for his character, for Batman, and for Bruce, I think have never been done before in this way.”

The first film was about Batman becoming Batman, the symbol of hope that Gotham desperately needs, the hero they deserve. The sequel, similar to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, will no doubt deal with the repercussions of Batman’s existence, the consequences that becoming a vigilante has had on both Bruce Wayne and the city as a whole.

Bruce has changed: his encounters with the Riddler force him to realise that vengeance was never going to be enough. His city didn’t need a dark, brooding figure lurking in the shadows to take down and punish criminals; it needed inspiration, someone to shake the city out of its apathy and fear. Set photos suggest he has a lot of heavy lifting to do, and his wealth and influence over its people could be used for something other than sustaining his nocturnal crusade. 

He can no longer stay in the shadows. Like Batman, Bruce needs to find his true calling. And, in a more political and psychologically complex way, maybe it's Bruce who needs to become the hero the city deserves.

Batman May Face a Rarely-Used New Villain

Then, of course, there are the villains, and so far we have heard conflicting reports about who the new recruits might be playing: Sebastian Stan has been speaking in the lead-up to his new film, Fjord, about the sequel, saying it is “like The Godfather Part II”, but his role remains mysterious. He has shaved his head in recent months, leading to people theorising that he might be playing Victor Zsasz, a member of the rogues' gallery rarely seen.

Reeves said previously: “Picking the right villain that digs into what that does, that goes into his past and his life, that was what drove that discussion... I will say, it’s never really been done in a movie before.”

Zsasz is a sadomasochistic serial killer who carves tally marks into his victims, first seen in the comic book Batman: The Last Arkham from 1992, when a series of murders leads Batman to him.

Does this mean battling Zsasz, who appeared briefly in Batman Begins, gives the film something radical? Could he be part of The Court of Owls, another big rumour about the film's plot? Could we see a major departure in seeing Bruce cross paths with a non-incarcerated Zsasz, someone he has not come into contact with in any film thus far? He is another notorious serial killer in the comics, but Reeves could reimagine him so he doesn't feel too close to The Riddler.

There's also talk that Harvey Dent is part of the film, but who might play him is up for debate. Stan was originally thought to be playing him, but maybe it is now another recruit — Brian Tyree Henry, perhaps. Does Charles Dance really play his Dad, Christopher, and Scarlett Johansson his wife, Gilda? With Dent appearing frequently through Batman big-screen lore, it seems a little tired to retread it.

Is the Answer in Animation?

Alternatively, could Johansson be playing a big-screen version of Andrea Beaumont, the titular nemesis from the 1993 film, Mask of the Phantasm?

This would certainly be radical. For those who don’t know, Beaumont first appeared as the main antagonist in that animated feature and was established as the fiancée of Bruce Wayne, before being unmasked as a tall, menacing, Grim Reaper-esque villain. She also has a father, Carl. Is this the big secret as to who Charles Dance could be playing? This would be a fresh approach to the villain situation, and it's never been done in a movie before.

Then again, maybe Stan and Johansson are playing slightly more grounded versions of Mr Freeze (he is bald, after all, and with Gotham underwater, it's not a huge leap to have someone freeze it over) and Poison Ivy — but both seem just a little too fanciful, plus, we have seen them in live-action before.

What we do know is that after The Batman, Reeves’ ability to surprise and shock audiences used to a certain type of Caped Crusader film is in for more left-field choices. And we hope they stay hidden for as long as possible.