Steven Soderbergh's arrival spotlights DC's past, reviving Justice League questions for 'The Batman' Part II
The Batman Part II faces yet another snag, and a celebrated filmmaker’s move into Gotham has you wondering what that means for the sequel’s future.
Filming hit pause in October when Matt Reeves stepped away for a private family matter. Into that gap walked Steven Soderbergh, who — according to Deadline — reached out himself and offered to direct the remaining weeks of principal photography on The Batman: Part II. Warner Bros. and DC Studios signed off, with Reeves staying involved remotely during the shoot and planning to take the reins again in post-production.
Soderbergh isn’t there to reinvent Gotham. He’s there to match what’s already in the can. He publicly praised Reeves’ first film and laid out a simple mandate: shoot material that can slot right into Reeves’ cut, not overhaul it or change the tone.
Reeves’ movie was “intentional, specific, and rigorously coherent,” Soderbergh said, adding that his goal is to create footage that will “integrate seamlessly” with what’s already been filmed.
Roughly two-thirds of principal photography was completed before the stoppage, per The Hollywood Reporter (via Entertainment Weekly). Earlier this year the production shot in London, where set photos captured a Gotham simmering with street protests; Reeves also shared a moody camera test showing Robert Pattinson in an upgraded cowl.
The handoff comes after a bumpy ride to release. The sequel ’s date has slid several times — from an initial October 2025 window to 2026, then 2027, and now February 18, 2028. Reeves and Mattson Tomlin finished a painstaking script in June 2025, and cameras finally rolled before October’s pause.
Why Soderbergh fits
If you need someone to keep a complex machine running, the guy who won Best Director for Traffic is a decent pick. Soderbergh has a track record of precision and control — from the clockwork cool of Ocean’s Eleven to the procedural snap of Contagion and the backstage business smarts of Magic Mike. More recently he’s leaned into tight, nervy thrillers like Black Bag and Presence, and he’s no stranger to slotting into other filmmakers’ worlds, having directed second-unit material on The Hunger Games and even shot and edited Magic Mike XXL.
- Jeffrey Wright — Soderbergh previously directed him in The Laundromat.
- Sebastian Stan — worked together on Logan Lucky.
- Brian Tyree Henry — collaborated on TV’s The Knick.
At minimum, that’s a filmmaker comfortable with ensembles and familiar faces — including Wright, who is back in Gotham as Jim Gordon.
This isn’t Justice League 2.0
DC has lived through a high-profile director swap before. In 2017’s Justice League, Zack Snyder left during a family tragedy as Warner Bros. pushed for a lighter tone and shorter runtime. Joss Whedon stepped in, rewrote, and reshot large chunks, resulting in a movie that mixed two sensibilities and underwhelmed at the box office ( about $658 million worldwide) and with critics. The CG-erased mustache on Henry Cavill became a symbol of the chaos. Behind the scenes, actor Ray Fisher alleged mistreatment by Whedon, while Gal Gadot also reported negative experiences; Warner Bros. said it investigated and took unspecified remedial action. Ben Affleck later called the reshoots the “low point” of his career on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, and Snyder’s four-hour cut arrived in 2021 to show what might’ve been.
The situation on The Batman: Part II is different in key ways. The movie is largely shot, there’s no announced script overhaul, and Reeves remains the creative lead — collaborating during Soderbergh’s weeks on set and set to oversee the edit.
“I am not leaving The Batman Part II,” Reeves said, emphasizing he’ll steer the film through post-production.
The plan now is straightforward: finish principal photography under Soderbergh’s steady hand, then hand the keys back to Reeves to complete the movie. For fans marking their calendars, the studio is still pointing to February 18, 2028.