Matt Reeves's The Batman Part II has finalized two major casting decisions for the October 2027 sequel. Sebastian Stan joins as Harvey Dent / pre-Two-Face Gotham DA, and Scarlett Johansson signs on as Vicki Vale — the iconic Batman comics journalist character. Production begins September 2026 at Warner Bros. Leavesden, England.
The casting announcements came via Reeves's verified social media on May 29 — three days ahead of the projected announcement schedule. Both castings had been heavily rumored throughout 2024-2025 industry tracking. Their formal confirmation represents the most-significant single-day casting reveal for a Reeves-Batman project since Robert Pattinson's original 2019 announcement.
Sebastian Stan's Harvey Dent. Stan — best known for Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier across the MCU since 2011 — is the first major actor to formally cross between Marvel's MCU and the DC Universe's parallel-to-DCU Reeves-Batman cinematic continuity. Stan was 41 years old when the deal closed. His casting as Harvey Dent has been Matt Reeves's specific personal pursuit since 2023; Reeves reportedly met with Stan repeatedly over an 18-month negotiation period. Stan's contract specifically allows for a Harvey-Dent-to-Two-Face character arc across multiple films — potentially extending through The Batman Part III if Reeves continues the franchise.
Why Stan. Reeves has stated in past interviews that his Harvey Dent vision is structurally different from Aaron Eckhart's 2008 Dark Knight performance. Where Eckhart's Dent was the optimistic district attorney whose tragedy fueled Batman's narrative, Stan's Dent is reportedly written as morally-compromised from the start — a politically-ambitious DA who is canonically already cooperating with Falcone-family elements at the film's opening. The character's eventual Two-Face transformation will reportedly be the climax of The Batman Part II rather than a third-act surprise. Stan's casting was specifically about finding an actor who could carry the moral-decay character arc with credibility.
Scarlett Johansson's Vicki Vale. Vicki Vale — the canonical Batman comics journalist character from Detective Comics #49 (March 1941) — has been a major DC supporting character across multiple comic eras and was famously played by Kim Basinger in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film. Johansson, 41, is joining the Reeves-Batman franchise for what's reportedly a multi-film arc. The Vale character will reportedly function as the audience-surrogate journalist whose investigation of Gotham's political corruption parallels Batman's vigilante work. Johansson's Black Widow / Natasha Romanoff is canonically deceased in the MCU (since Avengers: Endgame), making her available for non-MCU franchise commitments. Her contract reportedly includes options for The Batman Part III and a potential Vicki Vale Disney+ series.
What this means for the franchise. The Reeves-Batman continuity is canonically separate from James Gunn's broader DCU. Pattinson's Batman doesn't appear in Superman (2025) or any other DCU film. The Part II casting reveals confirm that Reeves is continuing to build the Reeves-Batman cinematic universe as a parallel, self-contained continuity rather than integrating with the broader DCU. The Penguin Disney+ series (2024) is canonically part of this continuity; future Reeves-helmed Batman projects will continue this parallel approach.
The release window. The Batman Part II is canonically scheduled for October 1, 2027. Principal photography begins September 2026 at Warner Bros. Leavesden, England, with location work expected in Liverpool and Glasgow (both standing in for Gotham). The production has been delayed twice since its 2025 announcement; the September 2026 start represents the firmest schedule lock to date. The Part III greenlight will depend on Part II's reception — but Reeves has stated publicly that he intends to direct all three. For broader context, see our earlier casting tracking and our The Batman (2022) full coverage.