Since the release of Superman and in the wake of a whole lot of Emmy wins for The Penguin, there’s been a lot of chatter about the finally-written The Batman Part 2, the sequel to the original “Reevesverse” grounded DC world that arrived before the DCU started.
Now, we’re hearing some things about it, mainly that everyone who has read it thinks it’s great, but now we’re getting more information past that, namely about its villain. Namely about who its villain is not.
Director Matt Reeves just said (via Happy Sad Confused) that the villain of The Batman Part 2 has “never really been done in a movie before.” Well, that rules out a whole lot of major villains that Reeves may have adapted, after previously doing high profile ones like The Riddler, Catwoman (well, sometimes-villain) and the all-time great Colin Farrell Penguin. But if he’s saying the villain has never been done in a movie before, that rules out a long list. That would mean no:
- Joker
- Harley Quinn
- Poison Ivy
- Bane
- Mr. Freeze
- Two-Face
- Scarecrow
- Ra’s al Ghul
- Talia al Ghul
- Deathstroke
- Deadshot
- Killer Croc
- Black Mask
- Clayface (about to get his own DCU movie)
Those are all heavy hitters and while Batman obviously has a long list of enemies, who would be left if those are ruled out? I’d say the highest profile ones, if you can call some of them high profile, would be:
- Hush
- Hugo Strange
- Red Hood
- Mad Hatter
- Solomon Grundy
- The Court of Owls
- Man-Bat
- Firefly
- Victor Zsasz
Which of those could probably be ruled out as well? If we’re going with more “grounded” heroes that align with at least the current tone of the Batverse, I’d say no Man-Bat, Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy or Firefly. I doubt you do Red Hood in a world that hasn’t even come close to introducing a Robin. Of those, I think Hugo Strange, Hush or The Court of Owls would be the most likely. But it’s true you can take a villain that is not grounded and adapt them in some way for this universe. The Penguin wasn’t sailing around on umbrellas and The Riddler wasn’t dancing around in a question mark spandex suit, for instance.
There are, quite literally, dozens more villains in Batman history, but I would be surprised if 98% of potential The Batman Part 2 viewers would know them. Not to say they couldn’t be used, but it’s certainly a different direction that doing say, the teased Barry Keoghan Joker, which now seems to be cut entirely. I can see maybe skipping all the Nolan villains, but man, that is dismissing some heavy hitters. Curious to see where this all ends up.
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