Fans who've watched The Batman may already be eager to see what's coming next in this new universe established by director Matt Reeves. While Warner Bros. has yet to greenlight The Batman 2, that seems all but inevitable given the smash success of the film. In addition to scoring strong reviews, The Batman pulled in $128.5 million at the box office for its opening weekend, giving the studio the response that would certainly justify a sequel.
Reeves spoke about his current plans for The Batverse in a new interview with The Cyber Nerds. Concerning The Batman 2, Reeves explains that the plan was to make The Batman serve as a complete experience on its own, as there was no guarantee they'd get to tell more of their story in a sequel. With that said, the director is hopeful to tell more stories with Batman with the positive response the film has been getting with fans.
"Batman's story never ends. It's not as if crime is ever going to end, or corruption is ever going to end in Gotham City. It was important that this story, even though I wanted to end in a complete sort of - beginning, middle, end - so that you had the experience, it had to end in a way that you knew it went on, because even if I wasn't going to make another movie, Batman's story continues. He is doomed and compelled to continue to go on this journey to become this iconic hero. And what's exciting is that if the audience embraces this movie, and it feels hopefully like they will, because Rob is amazing, then we'll be able to tell more of those stories."
The Batman 2 is waiting for its greenlight, but there will be spinoff shows that are happening at HBO Max. Colin Farrell will return as Penguin in one spinoff series. Reeves shared some new details about the spinoff, teasing how it will chronicle Oswald Cobblepot's rise from an underestimated crook into a criminal kingpin.
"One of the characters that we're doing a show for is Penguin because, I mean Colin is so amazing in the movie... Okay, so he becomes the kingpin, we know that. But we also know that that's not the version of this character yet. So how he ascends to becoming that character is a great sort of powerful mythic story. It's about, kind of like his American dream Gotham story, like the moment where he's kind of underestimated. People don't realize, but he does, that he has the potential in him to become the kingpin."
The Gotham P.D. Spinoff Has Evolved Into an Arkham Asylum Series
Elsewhere, The Batverse will expand with another spinoff at HBO Max focusing on Arkham Asylum. Reeves has revealed that this idea evolves from another spinoff that had previously been reported upon that would follow the officers of the Gotham Police Department. That show has shifted focus to the supervillains housed in the maximum security asylum.
"That story has kind of evolved. We're now moving into exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham, as it relates coming off of our movie, and some of the characters. It's like a horror movie or like a haunted house that is Arkham, the idea of - the way that Gotham is a character in the movie - I really want Arkham to exist as a character so that you go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh. And so in our work on Gotham, that story started to evolve, and it started feeling like, 'Wait, we should really lean into this.'"
The Batman is now playing in theaters everywhere.