The Batman has finally been released in cinemas and hype is only building for the latest DC film. Audiences and reviews (including ours) have been loving Matt Reeves’ dark and gritty detective story which has led to the question – when can we expect more? The good news is that Warner Bros. is equally keen on Reeves’ Bat-verse and has already greenlit a number of spin-offs and series set in the world of The Batman.
Here’s what else we can expect from The Batman universe.
Spoilers for The Batman ahead.
The Batman: All the sequels and spin-offs in development
The Penguin TV show
Colin Farrell’s casting as Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, in The Batman was easily the one that turned the most heads. Even more so when you saw his unrecognisable transformation on-screen.
The actor wowed so much in the role that he’s earned himself his own TV show in The Batman universe, which DC revealed is going under the working title ‘The Penguin’.
Every story has a beginning. The Penguin (working title), a new limited series starring Colin Farrell, is coming to @hbomax. Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, and Lauren LeFranc to serve as executive producers. pic.twitter.com/qL7sJI7cVe
— DC (@DCComics) March 9, 2022
Not much is known about the show except that it will be a limited series with Farrell returning as the titular Penguin. It’s expected to track the character’s rise through the ranks of Gotham’s criminal underground to become the villain we know from the comics.
Following the ending of The Batman, which saw the death of Gotham’s unseen puppet-master Carmine Falcone, a power vacuum has no doubt opened up in Gotham and the Penguin was clear about his plans to take a piece of it.
Farrell, Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark and Lauren LeFranc are all on board as executive producers. The show is heading to HBO Max in the U.S. – we’ll keep you posted on an Australian streaming home.
Arkham Asylum TV series
Early on, long before The Batman had been released, HBO Max committed to a series exploring the corruption of the Gotham City Police Department. It was intended to be a prequel to The Batman, looking into the struggles of one cop who was torn between corruption and justice.
Since The Batman’s release, Matt Reeves announced this series was “on hold” and had instead morphed into focusing on Arkham Asylum.
Reeves told The Cyber Nerds that the spin-off would look at what would happen in the world of Arkham in relation to The Batman world. The director said it would look into some of the characters at Arkham and their origins, and would almost lean into a horror movie and haunted house vibe.
We know some of Arkham’s current inhabitants in The Batman include the Riddler (Paul Dano) and the character that will one day become the Joker (Barry Keoghan) which makes for some pretty exciting possibilities.
The Batman 2
The Batman is already going absolute gangbusters at the box office so surely a sequel is on the way, right? I mean, we did get a cryptic post-credits tease.
While Warner Bros is yet to officially greenlight a sequel, it seems a pretty safe bet that The Batman 2 will happen. The cast members all signed contract deals for possible sequels and early reports had Matt Reeves signed on for a The Batman trilogy, so it seems like a matter of if, not when, the film gets the green light.
During press for The Batman, the cast members and Reeves threw out a number of different villains they’d like to see in sequels, including Mr Freeze, the Court of Owls and Hush. Given how The Batman ended there’s no shortage of places it could go.
As for when we might see The Batman 2, producer Dylan Clark said in an interview with ComicBook.com that it will be “less than five years” before we see a sequel. See you in 2027?
It’s still a long time to wait between movies, but in the meantime, you can go and enjoy The Batman in cinemas now.
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