Sebastian Stan is in talks to join The Batman Part II, which is already set to star Robert Pattinson and fellow new addition Scarlett Johansson.
Stan is a veteran of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), having played James “Bucky” Barnes aka The Winter Soldier in nine movies and one TV show, starting with 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, and most recently 2025’s Thunderbolts*. He is scheduled to reprise the role in this year’s Avengers: Doomsday.
However, Deadline reports he is set to cross over to Marvel’s rivals DC, and is in discussions to play an as-yet-undisclosed role in The Batman follow up. The movie is set to film in the Spring, and is scheduled for an October 1 2027 release.
The outlet also recently reported that Scarlett Johansson, Stan’s former MCU co-star, was also in discussions to join the film, with her role also unknown as of yet.
The Batman was released in 2022 and received a warm reception, making $772million (£572million) worldwide and becoming the most successful solo Batman film outside of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films.
Despite this success, a sequel has taken a long time by the standards of the superhero genre, with The Batman Part II taking over five years to arrive by the time it is released next year. DC chief James Gunn has defended the delay, saying last summer that people “don’t need to be entitled about it”.
Star Robert Pattinson joked about the delay, saying last March that he “fucking hopes” starts filming soon. “I started out as young Batman and I’m going to be fucking old Batman by the sequel” he quipped. I’m 38, I’m old.”
As for the potential plot of the film, director Matt Reeves teased that the sequel is set to feature a new villain who “hasn’t really been done in a movie before”.