u/NoAnteater8836

Now that it is finally official and production is underway I allowed myself to go back and watch The Batman knowing I am safe from another heartbreaking Firefly incident waiting for answers that never came. With the floodwaters receded and Gotham picking up the pieces, the ending leaves so many threads dangling seemingly ripe for sequel material: Joker and Riddler bonding in Arkham, a flooded and displaced city, a new young mayor in Bella Reál, Detective Martinez likely headed for a promotion after collaring Falcone and Riddler, a newly orphaned boy (likely setting up Robin or a surrogate), and a Batman who’s starting to understand the power of being a symbol of hope.

But the real direction is coming into focus with recent casting announcements and production updates. Notably, there’s been no official word yet on returns for Paul Dano’s Riddler or Barry Keoghan’s Joker. Now Dano is almost assuredly going to be a cameo in Part II at the very least, especially with where I suspect the story is headed, but Keoghan’s Joker is much more up in the air. He didn’t do well with test audiences and his big part was cut from the first film, they didn’t even bill him as Joker. So it is safe to say that little “tease” at the end of The Batman probably is not headed anywhere, at the very least in this next film.

What we do appear to have front and center along with Batman, Gordon, Penguin, Martinez, the mayor, and Alfred are the Dents. The Batman Part II swung big for this trio, in billing order (this is important) Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, and Charles Dance who are heavily rumored to be playing Gilda Dent, Harvey Dent, and Christopher Dent respectively.

Now, when you are making a follow up film and you make the choice to call it “Part II” instead of just The Batman 2 or a generic sequel subtitle, it tells you something. This isn’t another standalone adventure. It’s the next chapter in one continuous story that will be picking up directly from the consequences of Part I and deepening the world Reeves has built.

Now, this I believe is kind of a testimony to the type of writer Matt Reeves is, in that the most consequential revelation in The Batman is often overlooked because there are still 40 minutes left in the film after it happens and it just is not brought up again. In a standalone film that might be a bad thing, but where one continuous story is being told noir style it becomes fucking brilliant.

The crux of The Batman is Riddler helping Batman discover his parents were not wholly the people he thought them to be and everyone now knows Thomas Wayne had Edward Elliott, an investigative journalist, killed. That is the single most consequential revelation in The Batman. It stands to reason those consequences will resonate heavily in a film titled The Batman Part II.

Yet, the Dents are front and center.

So the question now becomes how do you combine all the elements we know will be present in this film in:

The tragedy of Harvey Dent

Hush/Elliott revenge

Gotham’s core corruption

Thomas Wayne’s sins and Bruce’s inherited cross

…without overcrowding this movie?

Well what’s a noir without a good ole fashioned femme fatale?

Imagine one woman who carries both the Dent name and the Elliott wound.

A woman who enters the story tied to Harvey Dent romantically and politically. Someone whose presence could accelerate Harvey’s fall, give voice to an Elliott family grudge that’s been simmering since Edward’s murder, and force Bruce Wayne to stare directly at the blood on his family name.

As separate story threads the film would be over ambitious and bogged down.

But when they share the same blood… suddenly everything tightens into one coiled, personal, devastating storyline.

So my theory is that second billed Scarlett Johansson is playing Gilda (Elliott) Dent as a femme fatale style Hush and the primary antagonist and story driver of The Batman Part II.

Thoughts?

That title might sound a little wonky at first, but I promise it’s crucial to this theory.

Now that it is finally official and production is underway I allowed myself to go back and watch The Batman knowing I am safe from another heartbreaking Firefly incident waiting for answers that never came. With the floodwaters receded and Gotham picking up the pieces, the ending leaves so many threads dangling seemingly ripe for sequel material: Joker and Riddler bonding in Arkham, a flooded and displaced city, a new young mayor in Bella Reál, Detective Martinez likely headed for a promotion after collaring Falcone and Riddler, a newly orphaned boy (likely setting up Robin or a surrogate), and a Batman who’s starting to understand the power of being a symbol of hope.

But the real direction is coming into focus with recent casting announcements and production updates. Notably, there’s been no official word yet on returns for Paul Dano’s Riddler or Barry Keoghan’s Joker. Now Dano is almost assuredly going to be a cameo in Part II at the very least, especially with where I suspect the story is headed, but Keoghan’s Joker is much more up in the air. He didn’t do well with test audiences and his big part was cut from the first film, they didn’t even bill him as Joker. So it is safe to say that little “tease” at the end of The Batman probably is not headed anywhere, at the very least in this next film.

What we do appear to have front and center along with Batman, Gordon, Penguin, Martinez, the mayor, and Alfred are the Dents. The Batman Part II swung big for this trio, in billing order (this is important) Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, and Charles Dance who are heavily rumored to be playing Gilda Dent, Harvey Dent, and Christopher Dent respectively.

Now let’s talk about my atrocious title, shall we? When you are making a follow up film and you make the choice to call it “Part II” instead of just The Batman 2 or a generic sequel subtitle, it tells you something. This isn’t another standalone adventure. It’s the next chapter in one continuous story that will be picking up directly from the consequences of Part I and deepening the world Reeves has built.

Now, this I believe is kind of a testimony to the type of writer Matt Reeves is, in that the most consequential revelation in The Batman is often overlooked because there are still 40 minutes left in the film after it happens and it just is not brought up again. In a standalone film that might be a bad thing, but where one continuous story is being told noir style it becomes fucking brilliant.

The crux of The Batman is Riddler helping Batman discover his parents were not wholly the people he thought them to be and everyone now knows Thomas Wayne had Edward Elliott, an investigative journalist, killed. That is the single most consequential revelation in The Batman. It stands to reason those consequences will resonate heavily in a film titled The Batman Part II.

Yet, the Dents are front and center.

So the question now becomes how do you combine all the elements we know will be present in this film in:

The tragedy of Harvey Dent

Hush/Elliott revenge

Gotham’s core corruption

Thomas Wayne’s sins and Bruce’s inherited cross

…without overcrowding this movie?

Well what’s a noir without a good ole fashioned femme fatale?

Imagine one woman who carries both the Dent name and the Elliott wound.

A woman who enters the story tied to Harvey Dent romantically and politically. Someone whose presence could accelerate Harvey’s fall, give voice to an Elliott family grudge that’s been simmering since Edward’s murder, and force Bruce Wayne to stare directly at the blood on his family name.

As separate story threads the film would be over ambitious and bogged down.

But when they share the same blood… suddenly everything tightens into one coiled, personal, devastating storyline.

So my theory is that second billed Scarlett Johansson is playing Gilda (Elliott) Dent as a femme fatale style Hush and the primary antagonist and story driver of The Batman Part II.

Thoughts?