[Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the actor Sebastian Stan confirmed his role in The Batman Part II. A representative confirmed to Esquire that that quote was incorrect. Le Journal du Dimanche has since removed the quote. The article below has been updated.]
Hey, how’s your French? I can barely remember the three years I spent studying it in high school. But without resorting to Google Translate, I can almost decode what Sebastian Stan just spoke to a French outlet about his mystery role in The Batman: Part II.
While promoting the French August release of his latest film Fjord, a Romanian drama from director Cristian Mungiu, Stan gave an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche published on 18 August. Midway through the Q&A, which Stan shared with co-star Renate Reinsve (known for The Worst Person in the World and Backrooms), the conversation pivoted to bigger projects like Avengers: Doomsday, in which Stan is set to reprise his role of Bucky Barnes, also called the Winter Soldier. That’s when Stan spoke about the other big superhero movie he’s working on, The Batman: Part II.
After alluding to entering Marvel’s next big blockbuster without reading the whole script—which he was instructed to do for the sake of avoiding giving spoilers in interviews—Stan said it was the opposite experience with The Batman: Part II. “I also can't say anything about Matt Reeves' The Batman: Part II” Stan said. “The beauty of this profession also consists in participating in projects of this magnitude, which I am fond of as a spectator.”
He added that he still has yet to see The Odyssey, which he said “looks insane.”
Fans have speculated that Stan plays Harvey Dent, the Gotham City district attorney who turns into the villainous Two-Face. Remember that Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight heavily featured Harvey Dent in its promotion but kept his transformation under wraps; though comic fans knew it going in, normal audiences still gasped when Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey suffered facial burns and revealed his old nickname was “Harvey Two-Face.”
Also remember what director Matt Reeves himself said back in May about The Batman: Part II. The movie is set to feature a villain never before seen in a Batman movie. That basically rules out Two-Face, though the story could easily position a different character as the “main” villain. Like whoever Scarlett Johansson will play.
The Batman: Part II may not have that same element of surprise as The Dark Knight, but Stan’s version—if he plays Dent—has every chance to be just as memorable. Or maybe not. Honestly, it’s a coin toss.
