UPDATE: Digging into that camera test footage, Matt Reeves has now confirmed the new cowl’s longer ears and custom Panavision anamorphic glass built specifically for the sequel.
The Batman Part II has been delayed again and will now open in theaters on February 18, 2028.
Matt Reeves announced the new date on Vimeo, along with the first camera test footage of Robert Pattinson’s return as the Dark Knight, as Variety reports.
The Batman Part II camera test footage
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) July 15, 2026
The sequel now arrives nearly six years after The Batman opened in March 2022.
The move gives Reeves additional time in post-production after cameras rolled at Leavesden on June 12.
Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Charles Dance, Brian Tyree Henry, and Sebastian Koch join Pattinson, with Reeves co-writing alongside Mattson Tomlin.
The new date also hands the movie the four-day Presidents Day holiday weekend, the same launchpad Black Panther used in 2018.
Even Further From Gunn
Now line this up with what I reported just yesterday: the “Reeves is slow” narrative is backwards, per my sources.
Gunn delayed and delayed, then had the nerve to offer notes.
Reeves waited him out with Mike De Luca’s full blessing.
They want Gunn gone and far away from this movie when it comes out.
February 2028 does exactly that.
Reeves is also on the De Luca-Abdy pitch list, and the Arkham Asylum series Gunn killed is back in play.
And per my bombshell report, the Paramount board wants Gunn and Peter Safran out at DC Studios once the merger closes, with contracts expiring at the end of 2026 or 2027 and no renewal coming.
By February 18, 2028, the executive who gave Reeves notes is long gone.
Gunn defended the first delay on Threads by noting that five-year-or-more gaps between sequels are “fairly common.”
The gap is now six years.
More Room For Gunn’s Batman?
Here’s the flip side, and it’s worth thinking about.
As I went over, following Supergirl, Reeves doesn’t want whatever Gunn does with Batman anywhere near his film.
The strongest argument against a Gunn Batman was always the calendar. Man of Tomorrow opens July 9, 2027. Batman was landing just three months later.
Two Batmen in theaters twelve weeks apart is a hard sell.
That gap is now more than seven months.
Which could suggest Gunn now has the runway to put his own Batman in Man of Tomorrow after all.
Recall those Tom Brittney Batman rumors.
And recall what I reported in the bombshell: I’m hearing Gunn himself is the one putting those Batman leaks out, to justify shoehorning Batman, or some sort of cameo, into his movie.
It also fits the bigger picture, which I went over in the Blue Beetle article.
Insiders told me to expect big cameos and fan service out of Man of Tomorrow precisely because this could be it for Gunn.
My sources say the plan is for Gunn and Safran to “step down to focus on Man of Tomorrow” once Paramount takes over, then find jobs elsewhere. The face-saving exit.
So this is the last hurrah, and it’s being stuffed with everything within reach.
The pile keeps growing by the day, from Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner to Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle to White Rabbit.
Why would Batman be the one name Gunn leaves on the table on his way out the door?
He can’t afford another failure. The door just opened wider.
UPDATE: My sources have since answered the question. The fight over Gunn wanting his own Batman is why Batman 2 moved, and Alan Ritchson is a frontrunner.
The WB Dominoes
Warner Bros. shuffled the rest of the deck.
J.J. Abrams’ mystery movie The Great Beyond, starring Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega, moves from November 2026 into Batman’s old October 1, 2027 slot, and picks up an IMAX 70mm rollout with the extra time.
Sam Esmail’s Panic Carefully, starring Julia Roberts, shifts to April 9, 2027, with Revenge of La Llorona filling the February date.
So Reeves turned in his script, started shooting, and just bought himself four more months and, per my sources, a regime change.
When Batman finally hits theaters, the people Reeves answers to will be the ones who had his back all along.
