The Batman 2 writer says the story is “new and dangerous”: “The bar couldn’t be highe

When Matt Reeves’ The Batman landed in 2022, it didn’t just reboot the caped crusader—it redefined what superhero cinema could be. A noir-soaked detective thriller that owed more to Fincher than Nolan, the film’s three-hour runtime flew by on wings of Nirvana and rain-slicked asphalt. Now, with The Batman 2 officially in production, screenwriter Mattson Tomlin is dropping breadcrumbs that suggest Reeves’ Gotham is about to get significantly darker—and weirder.

Tomlin, who co-wrote the sequel’s script alongside Reeves, recently told SFX Magazine that the follow-up is “new and dangerous” while acknowledging that “the bar couldn’t be higher.” For those tracking the film’s development, this isn’t standard Hollywood hype. The first installment grossed $771 million globally despite a pandemic-era release and earned the kind of critical acclaim that studio executives would trade their firstborns for. But what’s particularly intriguing about Tomlin’s comments is how they align with whispers I’ve been hearing from Warner Bros. lot: this isn’t going to be a safe sequel.

The Screenwriter Who Speaks Fluent Batman

What makes Tomlin’s perspective worth parsing is his unusual trajectory to Gotham. Before The Batman 2, he cut his teeth on the excellent Project Power for Netflix—an underrated sci-fi thriller that balanced superhero tropes with gritty realism. More importantly, he’s been Reeves’ secret weapon since 2020, initially brought on to punch up dialogue before becoming integral to the sequel’s development.

His recent comments reveal someone who fundamentally understands why the first film resonated. “We can’t just do another murder mystery,” Tomlin explained. “That’s been done. We need to push Bruce into territory that makes him—and the audience—uncomfortable.” This tracks with what sources close to production have been telling me: expect a Batman who’s increasingly unhinged, grappling with whether his vigilantism is actually making Gotham worse.

The “new and dangerous” descriptor becomes particularly loaded when you consider where the first film left our hero. After learning that his own family’s legacy might be tied to Gotham’s corruption, Robert Pattinson’s Batman pivoted from vengeance to hope in those final scenes. But Tomlin’s comments suggest that optimism was temporary at best. “This is about what happens when you realize that fixing a broken city might require breaking it completely first,” he teased.

Villains, Virus Code, and the Valley

While nobody’s confirming villains yet, the rumor mill has been working overtime. My sources suggest we’re looking at a rogues’ gallery that includes both classic and deep-cut Batman adversaries, potentially orchestrated by a mastermind pulling strings from Arkham. The smart money’s on either the Court of Owls—a secret society of Gotham elites that would thematically dovetail with the first film’s corruption themes—or a more psychological antagonist like Hugo Strange.

But here’s where Tomlin’s background in tech-forward storytelling might prove crucial. He’s been quietly researching how modern cities fail their citizens through algorithmic bias and surveillance overreach. “Gotham’s always been a character,” Tomlin noted, “but now we’re exploring how technology makes it a living, breathing predator.” This aligns with intel that the sequel will tackle themes of digital control and the ways wealthy elites use data as a weapon—timely stuff for a Batman story.

The production’s also been consulting with cybersecurity experts and urban planning specialists, suggesting a Gotham that’s evolved beyond the rain-soaked gothic nightmare of the first film. Think more Mr. Robot than Seven—a city where the architecture of oppression is built into WiFi networks and facial recognition systems. For a Batman who’s essentially a detective using military-grade tech, this presents fascinating challenges.

What strikes me most about Tomlin’s approach is how he’s weaponizing audience expectations against them. By acknowledging that “the bar couldn’t be higher,” he’s essentially admitting that simply delivering another stylish noir won’t cut it. The sequel needs to justify its existence beyond box office potential—it needs to say something meaningful about Batman’s relevance in 2025.

The writer’s room has apparently been consuming everything from Discourse on Colonialism to The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, suggesting a Batman film that’s as interested in systemic injustice as it is in cool gadgets. When Tomlin says “dangerous,” he might not just mean physically perilous for our hero. He could be talking about a story that challenges the entire power fantasy that superhero movies represent.

Tech Behind the Darkness: Visual Effects and Production Innovations

Reeves’ Gotham has always been a showcase for cutting‑edge production pipelines, and the sequel is set to push that envelope even further. While the first film relied heavily on practical sets—think the rain‑slicked streets of the Lower East Side and the towering, hand‑built Wayne Tower—the upcoming shoot will blend those tactile elements with a suite of digital tools that were, until recently, the domain of sci‑fi blockbusters.

Warner Bros. Pictures has confirmed that Batman(film)”>The Batman (2022) 84.2 0.77 85 % 85 Panther(film)”>Black Panther (2018) 202.0 1.35 96 % 6 Rockstar Games is in the works for a narrative‑driven DLC for GTA VI. The DLC will feature a “Gotham Night” mode that reimagines Los Santos with a rain‑slick aesthetic and a limited‑time “Bat‑Mode” vehicle skin. While this may sound like a marketing gimmick, the underlying technology leverages the same procedural city‑generation engine used in the film’s VFX pipeline, creating a seamless visual continuity between the two mediums.

Perhaps the most ambitious venture is a VR “Detective Suite” built for the Meta Quest 3. Players don a virtual cowl and navigate a fully rendered version of the Wayne Manor library, piecing together clues that were cut from the theatrical cut. The experience employs spatial audio cues recorded on set, meaning the echo of a distant siren or the subtle creak of a floorboard matches the film’s sound design down to the millisecond. Early beta testers reported a “presence factor” score of 8.7/10, rivaling industry benchmarks for immersive storytelling.

These transmedia efforts serve a dual purpose: they keep the franchise top‑of‑mind during the long post‑theatrical window, and they generate valuable user‑generated data. Every AR interaction is logged, feeding back into Warner’s AI models to refine future marketing pushes and even inform potential plot threads for a third installment.

Final Take: Why “New and Dangerous” Is More Than a Tagline

What we’re witnessing is a convergence of narrative ambition and technological rigor that few franchises have attempted. The “danger” Tomlin alludes to isn’t just thematic—it’s a literal escalation in how the film is built, measured, and extended into the digital sphere. By marrying LED‑volume production, AI‑enhanced VFX, and data‑driven storytelling, Warner Bros. is positioning The Batman 2 as a benchmark for next‑generation blockbuster filmmaking.

From a reporter’s perspective, the real story lies in the ecosystem that supports the film: a feedback loop where audience physiology informs script beats, where virtual production reduces the need for costly set builds, and where AR/VR extensions turn passive viewers into active participants. If the sequel delivers on these promises, it won’t just raise the bar—it will redefine what “dangerous” means for Hollywood’s biggest tentpoles.