The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, swept in with a surprise sensation, and fans had no idea it would be so good. The film emerged as one of the highest-grossing films of 2022, receiving praise from critics and fans alike. Following the first film's release, it was announced that The Batman 2 is in the works, raising one significant question: who would play the villain in the upcoming sequel?
In the first film, an intriguing villain, The Riddler, appeared immensely terrifying with his brilliant planning and executed Gotham's corrupted individuals in the name of justice. After drowning Gotham City in both dread and flood, The Riddler is taken to a high-security prison, opening the means for other villains to arise and terrorize the city.
While we're at it, here are the potential villains we hope to see in The Batman 2, per Matt Reeves' vision.
Hush, With a Never-Ending Vendetta
Hush is an interesting nemesis for The Batman 2, owing to Bruce Wayne and Tommy's shared history. According to The Batman: Hush, a 2002 comic book, Thomas Elliot, alias Hush, is Bruce Wayne's childhood friend, and he has a darker side that no one knows about, including his parents. When Thomas Elliot attempted to kill his own parents in order to acquire their fortune, it backfired after Dr. Thomas Wayne intervened and saved them with his surgical skills. This act reawakened the demon inside Elliot, giving birth to a new villain known as Hush, who is hell-bent on destroying Bruce Wayne.
Hush, in some ways, is the ideal opponent for Batman because he knows Wayne's identity. Also, since Tommy Elliot lacks superpowers, he keeps Batman grounded for all challenges and offers fresh possibilities not seen in prior DC films. Matt Reeves stated his thoughts during an interview with Twitter Movies when asked which character from the Batman comics he would love to integrate into the world of The Batman. He's interested in doing a version of Hush's character, and he says, "that's a character that I love, that I would love to see done, and maybe we'll get the opportunity to do it."
Mr. Freeze as a Tragic Villain
Although Mr. Freeze made his first appearance in Batman comics in 1959 and is only one of numerous villains, he has a high probability of featuring in coming sequels, if not the next one. Later, in 1992, an episode of The Batman: Animated Series re-told Mr. Freeze's backstory in "Heart of Ice," revitalizing him in a fabulous antagonistic role. Following the tragic fate of his terminally ill and cryogenically frozen wife, Nora, Mr. Freeze became obsessed with curing this fatal disease. In the process, the lab blew up in an ice explosion, causing his body to adapt to only sub-zero temperatures.
Although he resumed his research after surviving such a bizarre occurrence, due to a shortage of funds, he disguised himself as Mr. Freeze to rob banks and eventually became an enemy of Batman. In the eyes of fans, Mr. Freeze is a tragic villain, and at a press event attended by Collider, Matt Reeves shared his thoughts on using Mr. Freeze as a villain in future The Batman films.
As he put it:
"In my view, I just feel drawn to finding the grounded version of everything. So to me it would be a challenge in an interesting way to try and figure out how that could happen, even the idea of something like Mr. Freeze, that such a great story, right? I think there's actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great.
So, I love the fantastical side of Batman, but this iteration, obviously, while being, to me, I think it is very comics faithful, but I don't think that this one is necessarily, it doesn't lean as hard into the fantastical, I guess. But I think to me what would be interesting would be to try and unwind the fantastical and see, well, how could that make sense here? And so that's kind of my view, how I see it."
The Court of Owls for Another Batman Detective Adventure
The Court of Owls is a decades-old conspiracy lurking in Gotham City's shadows for ages. The cabal, initially featured in Scott Snyder's 2011 issue, The Court of Owls, Part One: Knife Trick, has been quietly pulling the strings in the city and controlling a considerable sum of politicians. After taking down a deadly revolt at Arkham Asylum, Batman returns to his usual life and begins his new plan for developing Gotham City.
However, with the assistance of Commissioner Gordon, he discovers a possible connection to The Court of Owls after investigating the mysterious death of a tortured murdered victim pinned to a wall.
This scenario would fit right in after the widespread destruction of Gotham City in the first film. Robert Pattinson, the actor playing Batman, is also in favor of The Court of Owls as the villainous organization in the sequel. He says:
"Court of Owls is the best one… If [the Waynes] disappear when they're secretly running it, that would really, really be a very difficult thing for Bruce to handle. Oh, it'd be a nightmare."
Although there are several villainous options, including Clayface, Bane, The Joker, The Penguin, and Two-Face, to outperform the last film, we need a considerably more horrifying opponent who is not the Joker.