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 costume. Not a trailer, not a scene, not a line—just a simple test, and the first glimpse of the new Batsuit. These few images, however, were enough to awaken an entire community, because the director included the missing 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 how long it takes to forget the killer's name, the identity of Selina Kyle's father, or the precise reason the dam broke. However, it is officially established that Part II takes place in winter, in the wake of the flood that concludes the first film: the sequel picks up the city in the exact state 2022 left it. To arrive without having reviewed it is to walk into a conversation already in progress.

This guide is therefore a preparation journey: what to rewatch, what to watch between the two films, what to read, and in what order to chain it all together. For official announcements, the reference sheet remains our complete dossier on The Batman – Part II. Here, we're dedicated to getting you ready.

Six-year gap: why a simple summary won't be enough

The wait hasn't been straightforward; it's been chaotic, and that's what has diluted the memory of the first film. The sequel was supposed to be released on October 3, 2025, before slipping to October 2, 2026 due to the 2023 strikes, then to October 1, 2027, finally landing on this February 18, 2028, which allows more time for writing and post-production. It needs to be stated once and for all, because the web is still full of it: articles announcing "October 2027" are outdated. Filming, meanwhile, began on June 12, 2026, in London.

This delay changes the nature of the preparation. After six years, memory only retains 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 it is exactly these mechanics that Reeves will revisit. Rewatching is therefore better than summarizing, especially since this film conveys information in detail: a name pronounced once, a line from Alfred slipped between two doors. To place the work within the entire saga, our complete chronology of all Batman films puts each era into context, and the question of tone is already discussed in detail in our analysis of the differences with Nolan's trilogy.

Rewatch The Batman (2022): the investigation first

The first thing to reactivate is the nature of the film: The Batman is not an origin story, it's a detective story. The vigilante we follow is only in his second year, he keeps a journal, he presents himself as vengeance, and Gotham tolerates him more than it accepts him. His entire arc consists of making him understand that fear is not enough.

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

The killer deserves a separate review: he is the absolute inverse of the chaotic clown usually associated with Gotham, a methodical, invisible, humiliated man who turns his resentment into a method. Our complete portrait of the Riddler revisits what distinguishes this version from its comic predecessors, and our guide to Batman's enemies allows us to gauge how much Reeves drew from the most realistic fringe of the rogue's gallery.

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

Falcone, corruption, and the Wayne family's lies

If you were to remember only one narrative thread from the first film, it would be this: behind the criminal investigation, The Batman tells the story of a city bought and sold. Carmine Falcone isn't a costumed villain but a businessman, and around him revolves an entire ecosystem of police officers, magistrates, and elected officials who, at some point, accepted something. Corruption isn't an accident; it's Gotham's normal mode of operation—a theme that our dossier on the GCPD explores from comics to adaptations.

However, the real shock of the film isn't a police matter; it's intimate. Following the money trail, Bruce discovers that the foundation created by his parents to "renew" the city served as a slush fund, and especially that his father wasn't the saint the family legend portrayed him to be. A journalist threatened to publish information about the family, Thomas Wayne asked Falcone for help, and the matter ended with a death. The film deliberately maintains doubt about what followed, and it is Alfred who provides the nuances, as the last witness to a version of events Bruce thought he knew.

This revelation touches on the very construction of the character, built as much on grief as on the idealized image of a father, which the film methodically demolishes. Our page dedicated to Bruce Wayne and his true face details this mechanism from one version to another, and everything always starts from the same geographical point: Crime Alley, the alley that never stopped making the Dark Knight.

This is also the part of the film that had the most visual impact: saturated interiors, red neon bleeding onto the rain, permanent chiaroscuro. Bringing this atmosphere into your home is precisely what the best Batman paintings inspired by the Reeves era allow.

Selina Kyle: the deliberately open encounter

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

The revelation concerning her is as brutal as the one that strikes Bruce: Selina discovers her own lineage with the man who runs the city. Two characters, two poisoned legacies, two opposing responses—one decides to stay and fix things, the other to leave. The film ends on this unresolved disagreement, which explains much of the impatience accumulated since. Our article on the origin and evolution of Catwoman measures how much this version, more fragile and grounded, deviates from the archetype of the glamorous thief.

An honest clarification is necessary here, as it avoids many disappointments: to date, nothing has been announced regarding Selina's return in Part II. This silence is not an answer; it is merely silence.

Nevertheless, this duo has become one of the most recreated in costume parties, where the two silhouettes echo each other—one of the most frequent uses of our Batman costume and disguise section, where the Reeves version quickly carved out a special place.

The final flood: Gotham's state when the sequel begins

This is the most important point of this review, because it is literally the setting for Part II. The final act of the first film does not play out in a duel but in a catastrophe: the killer had foreseen that his arrest would not end his plan, and his online recruits take over. The dikes give way, water rushes in, and Gotham is submerged in a matter of minutes.

What follows is the true end of the film and its moral turning point. Batman, until then defined by the fear he inspires, finds himself guiding survivors in the darkness, a flashlight in hand. He strikes no one, pursues no one: he illuminates. Gotham may need a point of reference more than a symbol of vengeance, and that is the man the sequel will pick up.

We must also remember the material state of the city: drowned neighborhoods, decapitated institutions, a traumatized population. In other words, a massive power vacuum. Our dossier on Gotham City, the cursed city explains why this city functions as a character in its own right: it absorbs catastrophes and recycles them into criminality. With Part II officially taking place in winter, directly in the wake of this flood, one can guess the opening image: a frozen, half-submerged Gotham, on its knees.

One last element deserves to be noted without being overinterpreted: the film closes with a scene in Arkham where the imprisoned killer exchanges a few words with an inmate who remains anonymous on screen. Nothing official has ever linked this scene to the sequel: it's a fan hypothesis, not a fact. Still, this image of a drowned Gotham has become iconic, to the point of appearing on a good number of Batman posters released since the film's premiere.

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

Many viewers filed the 2024 HBO series under the optional extras category, and that's a methodological error: these eight episodes centered on Oz Cobb take place between the first film and the second, and occupy precisely the temporal space that Part II will inhabit. Going directly from 2022 to the sequel is skipping an entire chapter in Gotham's history.

The series derives all its tension from the void left by the first film's collapse: a devastated city, a decapitated criminal organization, a place to be taken, and a man everyone has always underestimated. The long format allows for exploration of ambition and pettiness that the film didn't have time to develop. Our complete analysis of The Penguin details what this format brings, and our portrait of the Penguin, Gotham's crime lord compares this incarnation to those that preceded it.

Two production details are worth knowing. A second season is confirmed to be in development at DC Studios, though no timeline has been released: any circulating date is merely a rumor. And the Arkham asylum series project has been abandoned—James Gunn confirmed this—with some of its treatment having been reincorporated into The Penguin.

Finally, a point of caution: Colin Farrell will indeed return in Part II, but the actor himself clarified that his role there will be more limited than in the first film and his own series. The series is therefore not an appetizer before a grand return; it is the character's major role in this continuity. All the more reason to give him a place among the Batman figurines already on the shelf.

What the first film establishes and what Part II will have to pay off

A well-structured sequel pays off the debts of the first episode, and for preparation, only one casting announcement is truly structuring: Sebastian Stan himself confirmed that he would play Harvey Dent, the prosecutor destined to become Two-Face, making 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 specialized press, without 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 complete dossier on Part II linked in the introduction; what matters here is what this arrival implies for the review. Our portrait of Two-Face revisits this tragic shift between justice and madness. This thread is found in The Mayor of Gotham: The Only Power Batman Cannot Strike.

What makes this arrival exciting is that Harvey Dent is absent from the first film: the district attorney we meet there is not him. Part II therefore introduces a new character into a city that has just lost its institutions. On the subject, our article on the cast of The Batman details the first film actor by actor, and our page listing all the casts of Batman films places each performer in the long history of the franchise. To show your allegiance while waiting, a Batman t-shirt in the colors of the new era does the trick very well.

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

Reeves has never hidden that his Gotham came from the most grounded comics in the franchise. Reading the right albums before the release is therefore the best way to anticipate the film's vocabulary. Three titles suffice, each fulfilling a different function.

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

The Long Halloween provides the structure, and it is now the most strategic of the three. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale unfold a long-term investigation into a killer who strikes at every holiday on the calendar, amidst a war between criminal families, and above all tell the slow transformation of an honest district attorney into a two-faced monster. Gilda Dent occupies a central place, which makes the reading all the more interesting in light of press information on the casting of Part II, which has not been officialized. Those who want to continue will follow up with Dark Victory, its direct sequel.

Batman: Ego provides the psychology. Darwyn Cooke stages a purely mental confrontation between Bruce Wayne and the bat he created, each accusing the other of having taken up too much space. It's short, dense, and it's exactly the internal conflict that the first film depicts through the journal and the voice-over. To put these albums back into editorial history, our page listing all Batman comics by era serves as a general map — and a reread of Long Halloween is enjoyed much better with a Batman mug close at hand.

The complete program, in the order to follow

The task remains to organize all of this, because a program that is not planned is a program that is never done. The most effective approach is to start with the 2022 film, re-watched under good conditions: lights off, proper sound, subtitles if needed, as the film whispers a lot and some information is conveyed through low-voiced dialogue.

Next comes The Penguin, to be watched immediately rather than six months later: eight episodes can be digested in two or three evenings, and the series benefits greatly from being seen when the faces from the first film are still fresh.

Reading can be done 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, to be read in one go. For those who want to put the entire DC universe in order, our guide to the ideal chronological order to discover the DC universe offers a complete itinerary.

Last step, the most pleasant: a second viewing of the 2022 film in the days preceding February 18, 2028, when every detail will take on a different dimension. Many take the opportunity to make it a family event, an opportunity to bring out the Lego Batman boxes to occupy the younger ones during the investigation part, which is not the most suitable for small children.

And to carry the preparation on oneself without bringing out the full cape, a simple Batman keychain is enough to signal allegiance without monopolizing the wardrobe.

The questions everyone is asking before Part II

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

Plenty of time to spread out the program, as the American release is set for February 18, 2028, Presidents' Day weekend: one film, eight episodes, and three albums can be distributed effortlessly over this period. Be careful, however, not to base your review on articles still online that mention October 2027, an outdated date. The actual calendar is this: filming started on June 12, 2026, in London, release date announced on July 15, 2026, with a short camera test video showing Robert Pattinson in the new Batsuit.

Is it absolutely necessary to have seen The Penguin series?

It's not mandatory, but it's highly recommended: these eight episodes cover the exact period that the sequel will pick up. A second season is confirmed to be in development at DC Studios, though no date has been announced. Also, the Arkham Asylum series project has been abandoned, as confirmed by James Gunn, with some of its treatment having been reused in The Penguin.

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

The Long Halloween, without hesitation: it's the story that depicts Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face and gives Gilda Dent a major role — a character whom, according to specialized press and without official confirmation to date, Scarlett Johansson would portray in Part II. Year One remains the best choice for understanding the tone of this continuity, and Ego the shortest of the three. Those who prefer to offer this preparation will find what they need in our selection of Batman gifts.

Should I know Harvey Dent before seeing Part II?

This is the only really useful character review, as Sebastian Stan himself confirmed that he would play Harvey Dent, the future Two-Face. Since the character does not appear in the 2022 film, the review here goes through the comics: The Long Halloween is enough to understand his entire trajectory. For the rest of the cast, it's better to remain measured, as not all roles announced in the press have been officialized — the up-to-date details are in our complete dossier on Part II, linked in the introduction.