James Gunn Shares ‘The Batman Part II’ Update Denying Reports About Clayface & The Scarecrow

Armando Tinoco
·2-min read

James Gunn is sharing an update, or lack thereof, on The Batman Part II following news of DC Studios setting a release date for a Clayface movie for Fall 2026.

DC fans are seemingly eager for the future of the DC Universe and have been speculating about the upcoming movie slate. A fan took to Threads to ask Gunn about a rumor that Clayface and The Scarecrow would be part of The Batman sequel directed by Matt Reeves.

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“Firstly, no. Secondly, couldn’t be the case as there hasn’t yet been a first draft of a script,” Gunn replied to the fan the Meta-owned microblogging platform.

The Batman Part II was initially slated to open in October 2025 but was delayed and is now scheduled to be released in October 2026. Matt Reeves’ film is not part of Gunn’s DC Universe, who has another Batman movie in the works, Batman: Brave and the Bold, with Andy Muschietti directing.

In September, Reeves teased the Batman sequel, telling SFX magazine that he planned to shoot in 2025 as he was “finishing up the script now.”

“Colin [Farrell] will be part of the movie. We’ve shared [the script] as we’ve been going along with DC and the studio and they’re super excited,” Reeves told the magazine.

Reeves noted that The Penguin, which stars Farrell as the Gotham City villain, is the “entry point” to the Batman sequel and it’s “absolutely connected to where we leave things in the series.”

The filmmaker added that The Batman II is “going to dig into the epic story about deeper corruption, and it goes into places that he couldn’t anticipate in the first one. The seeds of where this goes are all in the first movie, and it expands in a way that will show you aspects of the character you never got to see.”

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