Holy release delay! The Batman 2 swoops into 2026!

Matt Reeves’ The Batman 2 release date is moving by a whole year because of the fallout from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Holy release date shift, Batman! Matt Reeves’ The Batman 2 is sticking to the shadows a bit longer after moving from its October 3, 2025 release date to October 2, 2026! If you’re looking to throw a batarang at the culprit, aim for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

While this news is disappointing, the shift gives James Gunn’s Superman film room to leap over the box office in a single bound when it flies into theaters on July 11, 2025. Double-dipping on two of DC’s Trinity heroes would have been nice, but spacing them out is likely better in the long run. Matt Reeves’ The Batman is not a part of Gunn and Safran’s “Gods and Monsters” initiative, but it’s all the same for plenty of audience members. Not everyone keeps their finger on the pulse of how the DCU is structured.

In The Batman Part II, Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz return as Bruce Wayne and Catwoman, respectively. Colin Farrell also returns as the opportunistic villain Oswald Cobblepot, with Barry Keoghan playing The Joker. Reeves teased Keoghan’s Jester of Genocide at the end of The Batman, though we have yet to learn how he’ll contribute to the sequel.

Meanwhile, The Batman spin-off series, The Penguin, is still waddling onto Max in late 2024. The release date for the show starring Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot could shift because of The Batman 2 delay, but so far, so good.

The Penguin follows the events of The Batman. After the Riddler opens the floodgates of Gotham City (literally), a war for power rages through the darkly lit streets in one of fiction’s most dangerous cities. Oswald Cobblepot recognizes that Gotham is in a state of panic and aims to take advantage of a city gripped by fear.

The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes, and Bill Carraro. Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer, and Rafi Crohn is co-executive producer.

What do you think about The Batman 2 getting delayed? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.