Popverse's top stories

• Explaining the surprise Chainsaw Man ending, which is happening in two weeks!
• Critical Role in outer space? Ashley Johnson has a pitch ready
• Conan the Barbarian movies in order: chronological and release order (including the “secret” Conan films)

The cast of The Batman: Part II is undeniably stacked, but one role remains without a player: Christopher Dent. 

Yes, we said Christopher Dent, not Harvey. The character is a bit of a deep cut, having only appeared in two comic books (1990's Batman Annual #14, and 1995's Batman: Two-Face) and one video game (2024's Batman: Arkham Shadow) before the role of 'Two-Face's father' was rebooted as Harvey Dent, Snr. in current Bat-canon, but apparently he's going to be part of the follow-up to 2022's hit The Batman.

According to a report from WorldofReel, The Batman: Part II is set to begin shooting in May of this year, but production has still not found an actor to play Christopher Dent. "Brad Pitt was initially interested but ultimately passed. Oscar nominee Stellan Skarsgård also declined the part," the outlet explains, adding, "Another actor I’m told who has most recently passed on the role is Daniel Craig, who is currently in prep mode for his upcoming Damien Chazelle prison-set movie, which will see him starring opposite Cillian Murphy and Michelle Williams." 

It's been rumored that Sebastian Stan will be playing Harvey Dent in The Batman: Part II, with Scarlett Johansson playing his wife, Gilda, but these rumors haven't been substantiated by the studio. Of the actors mentioned, only Skarsgård is old enough to plausibly play the father of a character played by Sebastian Stan, who is 43 years old, without old-age makeup. 

Considering how well cast The Batman was (I mean, it felt like every third actor in the movie was also in my favorite show, Chernobyl), we can only hope that the sequel's cast will be just as strong.

To keep up with the Chernobyl theme here, has anyone asked Jared Harris if he's available? Or Sam Neill?

He is vengeance, he is the night, he is... one of Popverse's favorite subjects. Learn how to do a Dark Knight movie marathon right with our Batman movie guide, and for the true World's Greatest Detectives out there, dive deep into the heart of Gotham City by getting to know Batman with Popverse. Here are some of our latest Batman stories:

• Batman and his prank war side from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen days will pop out some in Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez's upcoming DC relaunch
• How The Wire, prank wars, and superhero-forward comics inspired DC's upcoming Batman relaunch according to writer Matt Fraction
• DC's Batman teams up with Inception storyboard artist Gabriel Hardman for R-rated "open class warfare" story pitting the Dark Knight vs. Green Arrow and the Question