Superman might be to blame for The Batman 2 being delayed to 2026

Robert Pattinson's debut as the Dark Knight in The Batman was everything we could have hoped for and more, bringing a new Batman to the screen unlike any we'd seen before. Not only was this a Batman still in the early days of his time as the Dark Knight, but this was a Batman who actually lived up to the character's legacy as the World's Greatest Detective.

The film was a massive success at the box office delivering one of the best post-pandemic box office openings for a film and restoring DC fans' hope in DC Studios. It was no surprise that a sequel to the film was announced shortly after the film's release as fans made their desires for more of Pattinson's Batman known with their glowing reviews and the film's box office success.

For months we've been under the assumption that The Batman 2 would be released on Oct. 3, 2025, and fans have been counting down the days until the film's release. However, it seems DC now has other plans and has made a drastic shift in the schedule.

The Batman 2 delayed: DC movies film to 2026

In a move that no one saw coming, it has been confirmed that The Batman 2 will no longer open on Oct. 3, 2025, and has been delayed by a full year with the highly anticipated sequel being pushed back to Oct. 2, 2026.

The move is one that has caught many fans by surprise as there had been no indications a major delay was coming and it seemed the film was still on track to make its 2025 release date. For many, The Batman 2 was already at the top of their most-anticipated movies list for 2025 and the film was primed to deliver Warner Bros. Discovery and DC a sure-fire win in the final quarter of the year.

While delays have become an unfortunate regular occasion within the world of movies, the move to shift The Batman 2 back a whole calendar year is one that is quite puzzling and has left fans reeling as to why the delay has occurred.

Thus far, there has been no clear explanation provided about the movie's delay; however, one has to wonder, could Superman be to blame?

Might Superman be the reason DC delayed The Batman 2?

As we know Superman -- formerly Superman: Legacy -- is set to bow at the box office on July 11, 2025, and will launch the new shared DC Universe helmed by James Gunn and Peter Safran. DC is banking a lot on the film with Gunn in particular putting a lot of effort into the film not only as the new Co-chairman and Co-CEO of DC Studios but as the film's director.

Sure Gunn has offered up updates on other projects in the works from DC, but if you look at his social activity you'll find the heaviest promotion has been centered around Superman. This isn't exactly surprising as DC is betting big on the Man of Steel in using it to jumpstart the new shared universe they look to build, one they hope will rival the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Gunn has been going hard with his promotion of Superman, the same can't really be said for The Batman 2 which will be part of what DC Studios has dubbed its Elseworlds Universe -- which is basically a fancy way of saying these movies won't be part of the main DC Universe narrative, and good because we don't want them to be. That's been the problem with DC for a long time. They wanted to build a connected universe, but the projects lacked cohesion and tried too hard to build a connected universe instead of allowing projects to shine on their own.

This is part of the reason The Batman was so beloved. It wasn't bogged down by trying to fit into part of a shared universe and was able to tell a very focused storyline built around The Dark Knight and Gotham's iconic characters. Matt Reeves had the ability to carve out his own world and the result was one of the most successful and best-received DC movies we've seen in a long time.

Despite The Batman's success and the excitement about The Batman 2, Gunn hasn't exactly been out there promoting the project and making any effort to create hype for the film. Instead, his sole focus seems to be on making Superman a hit and conducting the hype train with updates aplenty for the film. So is it possible that Superman could be to blame for The Batman 2 being delayed?

By pushing The Batman 2 back a year, Superman is now the only confirmed DC film to open in 2025 which means that all eyes will be on the film rather than it having to share the spotlight with The Batman 2. This means instead of the attention being split between the two films, DC can focus all of its attention on promoting Superman in 2025 and save The Batman 2 promo for long after Superman's theatrical run has ended.

This also means that the two won't be competing for box office success.

Sure the two films were set to come out months apart, but at the end of the day it's a numbers game and there is no denying that insiders and fans alike would be comparing the box office openings for the films. Should The Batman 2 have had a bigger box office opening weekend, there is no doubt that the headlines would have hyped up Batman's defeat over Superman even if Superman's box office numbers were strong. It's what we do, try to spice things up and compare our favorite fandoms often pitting them against one another in our arguments for why one is superior to the other.

With The Batman 2 moving to 2026, Superman doesn't have any internal competition to compete with. Instead, it will simply be judged based on how it compares to the DCEU's success which isn't a high bar to clear. And we have a feeling that's exactly what the DC brass wanted.