The Batman Part II May Have Just Pulled Off the Biggest Casting Bait-and-Switch of the Year
Months before a single frame of ‘The Batman: Part II’ reaches the public, Matt Reeves’ closely guarded sequel has already become one of the most talked-about productions in Hollywood. The film is still scheduled for release in October 2027, but speculation about its characters is already building quickly. Ever since production officially kicked off, fans have been piecing together every casting announcement and stray comment in hopes of cracking the code on what Gotham’s Dark Knight is facing next.
Sebastian Stan joined the cast in January 2026, around which time it was also reported that he would be playing Harvey Dent. Scarlett Johansson, meanwhile, was heavily speculated to be playing Dent’s wife Gilda, while many believed Charles Dance to be playing Dent’s father. The pieces seemed to fit neatly together, pointing toward a ‘Long Halloween’-style arc that would culminate in the birth of Two-Face. Then Stan only added fuel to that fire. Speaking with Deadline from the Cannes Film Festival, where he was promoting his Palme d’Or-winning film ‘Fjord,’ Stan confirmed he would soon be heading to London for the sequel, where he would be playing “many roles in this one.” To most observers, that cryptic phrasing read as a wink at the character’s split-personality legacy.
Now, a major new rumor threatens to unravel all of those assumptions entirely. The InSneider reports that Sebastian Stan is not playing Harvey Dent in ‘The Batman: Part II’ as has been reported, but rather the serial killer Victor Zsasz. Instead, it will be Brian Tyree Henry playing Gotham’s district attorney, who eventually becomes the villain Two-Face. If accurate, it represents one of the most dramatic misdirections in recent comic book movie history, and a quietly masterful piece of casting sleight-of-hand from Reeves.
Victor Zsasz is a character created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle who first appeared in 1992’s ‘Batman: Shadow of the Bat’ no. 1. He is a psychopathic serial killer known for carving a tally mark on himself for each victim he kills. The character has never been portrayed in a live-action theatrical Batman film before. That detail aligns fascinatingly with a tease Reeves dropped back on a September 2025 Emmy Awards red carpet, where he hinted that the antagonist for the sequel has “never really been done in a movie before.”
Sneider’s argument follows that Reeves’ movie could be the first proper, terrifying take on Victor Zsasz as portrayed in the comics. Zsasz appeared in a very minor part in ‘Batman Begins’ played by Tim Booth, as well as in ‘Birds of Prey,’ played by Chris Messina, but that version was not a serial killer, only a buffoonish henchman of Roman Sionis. A true, full-blooded adaptation of the character would be unlike anything Gotham has seen on the big screen, and would fit neatly into the grim, grounded, serial-killer-thriller tone that defined the first film.
Sneider’s sources would not say who Scarlett Johansson and Charles Dance are playing, only that they are described as blends of lesser-known characters from Batman comics. That casts doubt on the long-held assumption that the movie will adapt ‘The Long Halloween,’ a popular comic story in which Gilda Dent is a prominent character. It’s worth noting that this report does contradict previous reporting, as Variety stated that Stan is playing Dent.
None of this is confirmed, and the gap between a compelling rumor and a studio announcement remains wide. But as fan discussion erupts across every corner of the internet, one question is dominating the conversation: if Sebastian Stan really is bringing Victor Zsasz to life on the big screen for the first time, does that sound like the kind of chilling, unexpected choice that could make ‘The Batman: Part II’ something genuinely special, or does the idea of him as Two-Face still feel like the role he was born to play?
