Warner Bros Discovery knew they hit gold when they got Matt Reeves on their roster. Not only is the Batman 2 officially moving forward but Reeves has not only one but three Batman Villain stories in the works. In addition to booking a spin-off series which will be starring Colin Farrell’s Penguin which is also a sequel for Reeves’ The Batman and an Arkham Asylum series. Warner Bros Discovery signed a deal with the director and his production company, 6th & Idaho Productions which was described as “an open invitation” for Reeves “to go wherever his interests take him.” These projects will be feature-length adaptations examining Batman’s Rogues Gallery.
The Batman 2
As for Batman 2, it is said to be still in script status with Robert Pattinson returning as our favorite caped crusader. No word on what who the main villain will be. Rumors are suggesting that it will be Mr. Freeze, Pattinson and Paul Dano has expressed interest in the Court of Owls which would be fantastic. There is no release set as of right now set but we can be sure to start hearing more and more news on it. With the Penguin series starting to film soon there will be plenty surprises and guest appearances.
Who are the three villains?
The director is said to be meeting with other writers and directors to build out these worlds and other movies focused on Batman villains such as Scarecrow, Clayface, and Professor Pyg. Everything is said to be still in the early stages and under wraps, but who are these villains?
Scarecrow
The Scarecrow is a supervillain first appearing in the American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, and debuted in World’s Finest Comics #3 in September 1941. The Scarecrow is depicted as one of the most enduring enemies of the superhero Batman. He also belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.
He is the alter ego of Jonathan Crane, a brilliant professor of psychology turned criminal mastermind. Abused and bullied in his youth, Crane develops an obsession with fear and uses a specially designed hallucinogenic drug–dubbed “fear toxin”–to exploit the phobias of the people of Gotham City and its protector, Batman. As the self-proclaimed “Master of Fear”, the Scarecrow’s crimes do not stem from a common desire for wealth or power, but from a cruel pleasure in terrorizing innocents to further his sadistic experiments on the manipulation of fear. The character usually wears an outfit symbolic of his namesake with a stitched mask and burlap hat.
The Scarecrow was adapted in various media incarnations and was portrayed by Cillian Murphy in The Dark Knight Trilogy films, Charlie Tahan and David W. Thompson on the Fox television series Gotham, and Vincent Kartheiser on the HBO Max streaming series Titans. Henry Polic II, Jeffrey Combs, Dino Andrade, John Noble, Robert Englund, and others have provided the character’s voice in media ranging from animation to video games.
Clayface
Clayface is an alias that was used by several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Most incarnations of the character possess clay-like bodies and shapeshifting abilities. All of them have been depicted as adversaries of the superhero Batman. In 2009, Clayface was ranked as IGN’s 73rd-greatest comic book villain of all time.
A prominent enemy of Batman, Clayface has appeared in various forms of non-comics media. He was voiced by Ron Perlman, Steve Harris, and Alan Tudyk among others. With even a version of the character appearing on the television series Gotham, portrayed by Brian McManamon.
Professor Pyg
Professor Pyg is a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly known as an adversary of the superhero Batman. Pyg was created by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert and debuted as a corpse in the alternate reality story Batman #666 (July 2007) before being introduced as a recurring character in the mainstream DC Universe two years later in Batman and Robin #1 (June 2009). Professor Pyg was re-introduced following DC’s The New 52 comics relaunch in 2011, appearing throughout the continuity and the subsequent DC Rebirth relaunch that began in 2016.
The character’s in-world real name is Lazlo Valentin, a scientist who suffered a schizophrenic breakdown that led him to become a supervillain who wears a pig mask. Morrison intended Pyg to seem disconnected from reality, believing him to be one of the “weirdest, most insane” characters in Batman comic books. Pyg is an obsessive perfectionist who sees human beings as broken individuals; he commonly kidnaps people and uses surgery and chemicals to permanently change them into mind-controlled automatons known as Dollotrons, and sometimes into human–animal hybrids.
Morrison took the name “Professor Pyg” from the song “Pygmalism” by Momus and Kahimi Karie; the name “Pyg” is also shorthand for “Pygmalion”, referring to both the mythical sculptor who fell in love with his own creation and the 1913 stage play, both of which serve as parallels for Lazlo Valentin and his love for his Dollotron creations. The character’s origin story alludes to real-life animal testing carried out in the mid-twentieth century. He has a makeshift mother made of nails and boards, from which he associates auditory hallucinations commanding him to constantly improve his surgical work.
Pyg began making substantial appearances in other media in 2013 with the animated series Beware the Batman and has since appeared in video games, television, and film. The character has been positively received by entertainment journalists as a strange and disturbing addition to Batman’s rogues gallery.
The Penguin Series
This series is still in development and picks up “about a week after The Batman ends” while the city is still flooded, and the very first sequence sees the Gotham crime boss “splashing through the water in Carmine] Falcone’s office”. It will start filming in early of 2023. I am hoping for at least an appearance from Batman and/or Catwoman who left at the end of The Batman movie.
Farrell told Variety “So, Gotham is still, somewhat, underwater. I read the first script of the first episode and it opens up on my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office. Even that alone, when I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, Jesus!’“ It’s lovely. It’s so well-written,” Farrell added. “Lauren LeFranc has done such an extraordinary job, and she’s writing the whole thing and show-running. She is formidable. It’s just an exciting prospect. I love that character. I was greedy with it. I felt like I didn’t have enough. I wanted to do it more and more and more.”
