Is James Gunn trying to kill Matt Reeves’ Batverse by continuously delaying The Batman 2?

I really, really liked Matt Reeves’ The Batman when it came out in 2022, since then, it has only risen in my estimation. I think it’s one of the best superhero movies ever made, and arguably the best Batman movie ever made. The film, released into the only-just-starting-to-recover theatrical landscape of spring 2022, did okay financially, but again, in the years since, its place in pop culture has only grown. People are super into Matt Reeves’ Batverse, and Robert Pattinson’s weirdo Goth Batman, so much so that James Gunn simply cannot kill the sequel. But he sure can delay it.

The Batman: Part II has already been delayed twice, from October 2025 to October 2026, due to scheduling conflicts resulting from all the delayed projects that restarted following the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes. It was then delayed again from October 2026 to October 2027 at the end of 2024. Now, Matt Reeves has released a Robert Pattinson Batsuit camera test with a release date of February 18, 2028.

The reasons given all along have been Matt Reeves and his meticulous writing process, and yes, Reeves is one of those crazy filmmakers who doesn’t like to go into production without a completed script. But these delays also coincide with James Gunn assuming (co)control of DC Studios and the addition of his own, Superman-centric film slate. We’re standing at the gossip buffet, and available for lunch is a perfectly reasonable explanation of a long writing process compounded by complications arising from the production halts of 2023.

OR, and go with me here, James Gunn would love to just get rid of the Reeves Batverse but he can’t, because people actually like it and want more of it, so he is delaying it as long as possible. Maybe long enough to shove a second Batman down our throats in the meantime, even though all anyone really wants is for David Corenswets’ Superman to team up with RBattz.

I have two abiding Hollywood thoughts based on little more than gut instinct, stray comments in seemingly innocuous conversations, and a cynical outlook on men in charge. One of them is that Lorne Michaels is weird about Tim Robinson and he will never be invited to host or even appear on SNL, despite being one of the most successful recent alumni of the show.

The other is that James Gunn would like the Reeves Batverse to just disappear already. But he can’t deep-six it because The Batman and RBattz are too genuinely beloved, so instead it’s just been constant demands for rewrites and new drafts. I just don’t think if left to his own devices, even accounting for the delays caused by the strikes, Matt Reeves would actually take six years to get The Batman: Part II out.

Again, just going on vibes here, but Reeves made two Planet of the Apes movies in three years (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 2014, and War for the Planet of the Apes, 2017). Those are highly technical films that have very complicated and involved post-production workflows. He also wrote War, so you can’t tell me he isn’t capable of locking down a sequel script in a timely fashion. Managing a large-scale, complicated production and its sequel is not a new experience for Matt Reeves. I just don’t believe he actually NEEDS six years to get it done.

In fact, Part II is in production right now. There’s no reason it couldn’t meet that October 2027 release date. And a February date isn’t the friendliest release date (don’t bring up Black Panther, that was an outlier for a number of reasons which don’t compute for Batman). The whole thing feels like a Hollywood kiss off. Maybe it’s just me! But I have a feeling between now and February 2028 we’re going to hear the casting announcement for James Gunn’s Batman, even though no one is asking for a second Batman and having two of the same major character running around at the same time is and always has been a bad idea.

Let me know which entrée you’re choosing from the buffet, the “everything is fine, nothing to see here” version, or my delicious conspiracy theory that James Gunn is trying to kill Matt Reeves’ Batverse through death by a thousand cuts. Meet us at The Squawk for that conversation. (App link here.)