(Photo Credit: A24)
A new report on Sebastian Stan‘s role in The Batman 2 suggests a massive shake up. Should the report turn out true, the new DC movie will be way different than we thought.
Recently, a report from Jeff Sneider of The InSneider noted that Stan wouldn’t be playing the role of Harvey Dent/Two-Face, like we previously thought. Instead, Sneider reported he’d play the role of Victor Zsasz. Zsasz is a character created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle who first appeared in 1992’s Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1. Victor is a psychopathic serial killer known for carving a tally mark on himself for each victim that he kills.
The character was played by Tim Booth in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and by Anthony Carrigan in the popular Gotham TV show. Additionally, Chris Messina portrayed him in 2020’s Birds of Prey. The report itself isn’t confirmed just yet, but should it turn out to be true, it’ll completely flip how we thought of The Batman 2 on its head.
Sebastian Stan not playing Two-Face would be an interesting pivot for The Batman sequel
Previously, all reporting surrounding The Batman 2 suggested that the upcoming DC sequel would focus largely on the Dent family. Rumors floated that Harvey and his father, Christopher (rumored to be played by Charles Dance) would not only be in the movie, but that the movie would focus heavily on the Dent’s relationship with Bruce Wayne, specifically Harvey and Bruce’s relationship, which gets complicated once Dent becomes Two-Face.
Should Stan not be playing Dent and instead playing a much more brutal villain of Batman, that throws the plot into question. It stands to reason that Stan wouldn’t be playing a minor villain in the movie, so if the upcoming sequel focuses more on Zsasz, the story itself would change drastically. Zsasz is a much darker villain compared to some of Batman’s more well-known antagonists. As a result, the movie might take an even more grounded and realistic tone to handle the chaotic nature of Zsasz.
Director Matt Reeves already took the concept of The Riddler and turned it into a much grittier version of the comic villain. With Zsasz, though, there’s no real need to change him, but Reeves could lean heavily into the villain’s nature to explore just how far Batman is willing to go to stop a villain.
Sneider’s report does note that, although Stan won’t be Dent, the iconic villain will still be in the movie. Sneider reported that Brian Tyree Henry, who was revealed to be in the movie recently, will be playing the role. This would mark the second time a Black actor played the role after Billy Dee Williams did in 1989’s Batman. This could still keep the Dent’s at the forefront of the movie, but with Stan also involved, it does make you wonder just where the movie would go with Zsasz included.
