What to Watch Before The Batman Part II? The Fan's Preparation Guide

On July 15, 2026, Matt Reeves posted a short video: a camera test, a screen test, showing Robert Pattinson back in the suit. Not a trailer, not a scene, not a single line of dialogue — just a test, and the first look at the new Batsuit. Yet those few images were enough to wake up an entire community, because the director attached the missing piece of information: The Batman – Part II will be released on February 18, 2028, over Presidents' Day weekend.

Six years, then, between the first film and its sequel. Six years is exactly the time it takes to forget the killer's name, the identity of Selina Kyle's father or the precise reason the seawall gave way. And it is officially established that Part II takes place in winter, in the wake of the flood that ends the first film: the sequel picks the city up in the exact state 2022 left it. Walking in without a refresher is like arriving in the middle of a conversation that has already started.

This guide is therefore a preparation path: what to rewatch, what to watch between the two films, what to read, and in what order to go through it all. For tracking official announcements, the reference page remains our complete file on The Batman – Part II. Here, our job is to get you ready.

A six-year gap: why a simple recap won't be enough

The wait has not been straightforward, it has been chaotic, and that is what has blurred the memory of the first film. The sequel was supposed to come out on October 3, 2025, before sliding to October 2, 2026 because of the 2023 strikes, then to October 1, 2027, before landing on this February 18, 2028 date that allows more time for writing and post-production. It needs to be said once and for all, because the web is still full of it: articles announcing "October 2027" are out of date. Filming, for its part, began on June 12, 2026 in London.

This delay changes the nature of the preparation. After six years, memory only keeps images — the rain, the black makeup around the eyes, the voiceover — and loses the mechanics: who betrays whom, who pays whom, why the city collapses. Yet those are exactly the mechanics Reeves is going to pick up again. Rewatching is therefore better than reading a recap, especially since this film moves its information through details: a name spoken once, a line from Alfred slipped in between two doors. To place the film within the saga as a whole, our complete timeline of every Batman movie puts each era in context, and the question of tone is already covered in detail in our analysis of the differences with Nolan's trilogy.

Rewatching The Batman (2022): the investigation comes first

The first thing to bring back is the nature of the film: The Batman is not an origin story, it is a crime thriller. The vigilante we follow is only in his second year, he keeps a journal, he calls himself vengeance, and Gotham tolerates him more than it accepts him. The whole arc is about making him understand that fear is not enough.

The investigation begins with the murder of Gotham's mayor, killed in his own home, and with a card left explicitly for the vigilante. Then the bodies pile up, each with its riddle, each striking a pillar of the local establishment. The killer does not choose his victims at random: he chooses those who profited from a system. This is where the film tips from thriller into indictment, and the riddles are not decorative: they are the narrative structure.

The killer deserves a review of his own: he is the absolute opposite of the chaotic clown usually associated with Gotham, a methodical, invisible, humiliated man who turns his grudge into a method. Our complete profile of the Riddler looks at what separates this version from its comic book ancestors, and our guide to Batman's enemies shows just how much Reeves drew from the most realistic corner of the rogues' gallery.

On a second viewing, one detail jumps out: here, the face matters more than the cape. It is a film about what we hide, and fans who want to recreate its look turn to a Batman mask rather than a full costume.

Falcone, corruption and the Wayne family lie

If you were to remember only one storyline from the first film, it would be this one: behind the criminal investigation, The Batman tells the story of a city that has been bought. Carmine Falcone is not a costumed villain but a businessman, and around him revolves an entire ecosystem of cops, judges and elected officials who accepted something, one day. Corruption is not an accident there, it is Gotham's normal way of working — a theme that our file on the GCPD explores from the comics to the adaptations.

The real shock of the film, however, is not a police matter, it is a personal one. By following the money, Bruce discovers that the foundation his parents created to "renew" the city was used as a slush fund, and above all that his father was not the saint the family legend made him out to be. A journalist was threatening to publish information about the family, Thomas Wayne asked Falcone for help, and the affair ended with a death. The film deliberately keeps a doubt about what happened next, and it is Alfred who provides the nuances, as the last witness to a version of events Bruce thought he knew.

This revelation strikes at the very construction of the character, built as much on grief as on the idealized image of a father, which the film methodically tears down. Our page dedicated to Bruce Wayne and his true face breaks down this mechanism from one version to the next, and everything always starts from the same place: Crime Alley, the alley that has never stopped making the Dark Knight.

It is also the most visually striking part of the film: saturated interiors, red neon bleeding into the rain, constant chiaroscuro. Bringing that atmosphere into your home is exactly what the best Batman canvases inspired by the Reeves era make possible.

Selina Kyle: a relationship deliberately left open

The Batman contains a second investigation running in parallel, and it belongs to Selina Kyle: she is not looking for a serial killer, she is looking for a missing friend. Yet this modest starting point leads her to the top of Gotham's criminal pyramid, where Bruce arrives from his own side. Their alliance is built on that convergence.

The revelation that concerns her is as brutal as the one that hits Bruce: Selina discovers her own blood tie to the man who runs the city. Two characters, two poisoned legacies, two opposite responses — one decides to stay and repair, the other to leave. The film ends on this disagreement without resolving it, which explains a good part of the impatience that has built up since. Our article on the origin and evolution of Catwoman measures how far this version, more fragile and more grounded, departs from the archetype of the glamorous thief.

An honest clarification is needed here, because it avoids a lot of disappointment: to date, nothing has been announced about Selina's return in Part II. That silence is not an answer, it is only a silence.

Still, this duo has become one of the most recreated at costume parties, where the two silhouettes mirror each other — one of the most common uses of our Batman costume section, where the Reeves version quickly earned a place of its own.

The final flood: the state of Gotham when the sequel begins

This is the most important point of this refresher, because it is literally the setting of Part II. The first film's final act does not play out as a duel but as a disaster: the killer had planned for his arrest not to end his scheme, and the followers he recruited online take over. The seawalls give way, the water rushes in, and Gotham is submerged within minutes.

What follows is the film's real ending and its moral turning point. Batman, until then defined by the fear he inspires, finds himself guiding survivors through the darkness, a flare in his hand. He does not hit anyone, he does not chase anyone: he lights the way. Gotham may need a guiding light more than a symbol of vengeance, and that is the man the sequel will pick up.

The physical state of the city also matters: flooded neighborhoods, institutions left without leaders, a traumatized population. In other words, a gigantic power vacuum. Our file on Gotham City, the cursed city explains why this city works as a character in its own right: it absorbs disasters and recycles them into crime. With Part II officially set in winter, in the direct wake of this flood, the opening image is easy to guess: a frozen Gotham, half underwater, on its knees.

One last element deserves a mention without being overinterpreted: the film closes on an Arkham scene where the imprisoned killer exchanges a few words with an inmate who remains unnamed on screen. Nothing official has ever linked this scene to the sequel: it is a fan theory, not a fact. Still, this image of a drowned Gotham has become iconic, to the point of appearing on a good share of Batman posters released since the film came out.

The Penguin (2024): the link you shouldn't skip

Many viewers filed the HBO series that aired in 2024 under optional extras, and that's a methodological mistake: these eight episodes centered on Oz Cobb take place between the first film and the second, and fill exactly the stretch of time that Part II will pick up. Jumping straight from 2022 to the sequel means skipping an entire chapter of Gotham's story.

The series draws all its tension from the vacuum left by the collapse at the end of the first film: a devastated city, a decapitated criminal organization, a throne up for grabs, and a man everyone has always underestimated. The long format makes room to explore an ambition and a pettiness the film had no time to develop. Our full analysis of The Penguin details what this format brings, and our portrait of the Penguin, Gotham's master of crime compares this incarnation with the ones that came before it.

Two pieces of production news are worth knowing. A season 2 is confirmed in development at DC Studios, with no schedule announced: any date floating around is rumor. And the series project about Arkham Asylum has been dropped — James Gunn confirmed it — with part of its treatment folded back into The Penguin.

One last point of caution: Colin Farrell does return in Part II, but the actor himself has said his role there will be smaller than in the first film and in his own series. The series is therefore not a teaser ahead of a big comeback; it is the character's big role in this continuity. All the more reason to make room for him among the Batman figures already lined up on the shelf.

What the first film sets up and Part II will have to pay off

A well-built sequel pays off the debts of the first installment, and for your prep, only one casting fact is truly structural: Sebastian Stan himself confirmed he will play Harvey Dent, the district attorney destined to become Two-Face, which makes him the only villain identified to date. The rest calls for caution — Scarlett Johansson as Gilda Dent and Charles Dance as Christopher Dent are only reported by the trade press, with no official confirmation, and the roles of Brian Tyree Henry and Sebastian Koch have not been disclosed. The details of the announcements, actor by actor, are kept up to date in our full Part II file linked in the introduction; what matters here is what this arrival means for your rewatch. Our portrait of Two-Face looks back at that tragic tipping point between justice and madness. The same thread runs through The Mayor of Gotham: the one power Batman can't punch.

What makes this arrival so exciting is that Harvey Dent is absent from the first film: the district attorney we meet there isn't him. Part II therefore introduces a brand-new character into a city that has just lost its institutions. On that subject, our article on the cast of The Batman breaks down the first film actor by actor, and our page listing every cast of every Batman film places each performer in the long history of the franchise. To show your colors in the meantime, a Batman t-shirt in the shades of the new era does the job nicely.

The comics to read before February 2028, and what each one brings

Reeves has never hidden that his Gotham comes from the most grounded comics in the franchise. Reading the right books before release is therefore the best way to anticipate the film's vocabulary. Three titles are enough, each serving a different purpose.

Batman: Year One provides the foundation. Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli tell the story of a first year on the job without miracle gadgets, in a city where the police are at least as much an enemy as the mob, and where a lieutenant named Gordon discovers the full extent of the rot. It's the story that established the idea of a fallible Batman, and the kinship with the 2022 film jumps out from the very first pages.

The Long Halloween provides the structure, and today it's the most strategic of the three. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale unfold a long-running investigation into a killer who strikes on every holiday of the calendar, in the middle of a war between crime families, and above all they tell the slow transformation of an upright district attorney into a two-faced monster. Gilda Dent holds a central place in it, which makes the read all the more interesting in light of the press reports on the Part II cast, which have not been made official. Those who want to keep going can follow up with Dark Victory, its direct sequel.

Batman: Ego provides the psychology. Darwyn Cooke stages a purely mental showdown between Bruce Wayne and the bat he created, each accusing the other of taking up too much space. It's short, dense, and it's exactly the inner conflict the first film puts on screen through the journal and the voiceover. To place these books in publishing history, our page listing every Batman comic by era serves as a general map — and a reread of Long Halloween tastes much better with a Batman mug within reach.

The complete program, in the order to follow it

All that's left is to organize it, because a program you don't plan is a program you never get through. The most effective approach is to start with the 2022 film, rewatched in good conditions: lights off, decent sound, subtitles if needed, because the film whispers a lot and part of the information comes through in hushed dialogue.

Next comes The Penguin, best watched right after rather than six months later: eight episodes go down in two or three evenings, and the series gains enormously from being seen while the faces from the first film are still fresh.

The reading can happen in parallel, at a slower pace. Year One first, short and foundational. The Long Halloween next, chapter by chapter: the longest of the three, but the most rewarding given the casting. Ego to finish, read in one sitting. For those who want to put the whole DC universe in order, our guide to the ideal chronological order for discovering the DC universe offers a complete route.

The last step, and the most enjoyable: a second viewing of the 2022 film in the days leading up to February 18, 2028, when the smallest detail will take on a different light. Many turn it into a family event, a chance to bring out the boxes of Lego Batman to keep the youngest busy during the investigation part, which isn't the best suited to little ones.

And to wear your prep without breaking out the full cape, a simple Batman keychain is enough to show where you belong without taking over the closet.

The questions everyone is asking before Part II

How much time is left to rewatch everything before February 18, 2028?

Plenty to spread the program out, since the US release is set for February 18, 2028, Presidents' Day weekend: one film, eight episodes and three books fit easily into that window. Be careful, though, not to base your rewatch on articles still online that mention October 2027, an outdated date. The actual timeline is this: filming began on June 12, 2026 in London, and the release date was announced on July 15, 2026 with a short camera-test video showing Robert Pattinson in the new Batsuit.

Do you absolutely need to have seen The Penguin series?

It isn't mandatory, but it's highly recommended: these eight episodes cover the exact period the sequel will pick up. A season 2 is confirmed in development at DC Studios, with no date announced. Also worth noting: the series project about Arkham Asylum has been dropped, as James Gunn confirmed, with part of its treatment reused in The Penguin.

Which comic should you read first if you only have time for one?

The Long Halloween, without hesitation: it's the story that tells Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face and gives Gilda Dent a major role — a character that, according to the trade press and with no official confirmation to date, Scarlett Johansson would play in Part II. Year One remains the best choice for understanding the tone of this continuity, and Ego is the shortest of the three. Those who would rather gift this prep will find plenty of options in our selection of Batman gifts.

Do you need to know Harvey Dent before seeing Part II?

This is the only character refresher that is truly useful, since Sebastian Stan has confirmed himself that he will play Harvey Dent, the future Two-Face. Because the character does not appear in the 2022 film, the refresher here goes through the comics: The Long Halloween is enough to understand his entire arc. For the rest of the cast, it is better to stay cautious, as not all the roles announced in the press have been made official — the up-to-date details are in our full feature on Part II, linked in the introduction.