Matt Reeves has given fans their first fresh look at The Batman: Part II, and the image doing the most talking shows Scarlett Johansson in a mysterious role. The director posted the pictures online on May 14, 2025, with a message that read: “Next exit, Gotham... Welcome. 🦇🦇”
The shot set off a new wave of speculation because Johansson appears with short dark hair, a detail fans immediately seized on as they tried to place her in Gotham’s cast of characters. The most popular theory online is that she is playing Gilda Dent, the wife of Harvey Dent, while others have pointed to Sebastian Stan as a possible Harvey Dent and Colin Farrell returning as Penguin.
The images matter because they are the clearest public sign yet that Reeves is moving the sequel’s world forward after a long stretch of silence around the project. The Batman: Part II is scheduled to open in theaters on October 1, 2027, and every new image now becomes a clue for fans trying to map out who will be in the film and how Gotham’s next chapter will take shape.
Still, the biggest hook in the conversation is also the one that remains unresolved: none of the speculation around Johansson’s role has been confirmed. The fan theories have settled on Gilda Dent, but that remains guesswork, not a casting reveal, and the same is true of the whispers that Barry Keoghan may appear as Joker. For now, Reeves has shown just enough to fuel the debate without answering it, which is exactly why the photo landed the way it did.
That leaves the sequel in a familiar place for a Batman project in the making: publicly scheduled, heavily watched and still guarded where it counts. The date on the calendar is set, the cast chatter is growing louder, and the latest image has only sharpened the one question fans care about most — who, exactly, is Johansson playing in Gotham?
