Update: A day after this article was published, Warner Bros. delayed The Batman Part II again, to February 18, 2028, with Reeves dropping the first camera test footage of Pattinson’s return. The new date puts the movie even further from Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow and, per my sources’ timeline, well past Gunn and Safran’s expected exit.
For three years, the narrative around The Batman Part II was that Matt Reeves was slow.
The script took forever. The dates kept slipping — October 2025 became October 2026 became October 1, 2027. And as of Wednesday: February 18, 2028.
And James Gunn made sure everyone knew whose fault that was, posting on Threads: “The only reason for the delay is there isn’t a full script.”
My sources say the narrative is backwards.
I’m told Gunn delayed and delayed, and then had the nerve to offer notes on Reeves’ script. That went about as well as you’d expect.
Reeves, per my sources, decided to wait it out with Mike De Luca’s full blessing.
They want nothing to do with Gunn when the movie comes out. They want him gone and far away from it, from his “universe” and from his flops.
This follows my bombshell report that the Paramount board wants Gunn and Peter Safran out at DC Studios once the merger closes, and that Reeves is among the big names already pitching De Luca and Pam Abdy, who are set to take it all over.
Consider the Timeline
The sequel was announced in April 2022. Reeves and Mattson Tomlin worked the script from late 2022 to June 2025, with the delays publicly chalked up to the strikes and Reeves’ meticulous process. That was the story everyone accepted.
Cameras finally rolled at Leavesden on June 12, with Robert Pattinson back in the cowl, Colin Farrell returning as Oz, and Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, and Brian Tyree Henry joining the cast. Release date: now February 18, 2028.
So the “slow” director turned in his script and went straight to work, while the executive who publicly blamed him is the one fighting for his job.
The Penguin, Put On Ice
Now look at The Penguin.
As I went over Monday, The Penguin — 24 Emmy nominations, nine wins, including Cristin Milioti — had HBO chief Casey Bloys openly discussing Season 2 with DC as recently as November. A Bloomberg report even indicated it was in the works.
Then last month, industry scooper Jeff Sneider reported HBO and DC would not move forward with Season 2.
What happened in between?
Per the CineSource X account: Season 2 should have been in full swing by now. David Ellison had reportedly seen the Season 1 numbers, liked them, and was on board to keep going. Then DCU executives put the season on ice — and it blew up into major issues between Gunn and Reeves.
That’s their claim, and I can’t independently verify it. But it lines up with everything my own sources have described about this rift.
Those Batman Leaks
It also puts those Batman-in-Man of Tomorrow leaks in a new light.
As I reported in the bombshell, I’m hearing Gunn himself is the one putting them out to justify shoehorning Batman, or some sort of cameo, into his movie.
He can’t afford another failure, even if it means burning Reeves.
As I previously went over, following Supergirl, Reeves doesn’t want whatever Gunn would do with Batman to hurt his own movie, which was set to come out only three months later. As of Wednesday, that gap is now more than seven months.
Where This Goes
Reeves is on the De Luca-Abdy pitch list. The Arkham Asylum series Gunn killed is back in play. And in the post-merger structure my sources describe, the people Reeves actually answers to will be the ones who had his back all along.
The Batman Part II opens February 18, 2028. By then, per my sources, the executive who gave Reeves notes will be long gone.
