James Gunn defends delay to Batman sequel

James Gunn has defended the delay to 'The Batman' sequel.

The 58-year-old director - who serves as the co-chairmen and co-CEO of DC Studios - has taken to Threads to explain the delay to the sequel to the Matt Reeves-directed superhero movie, which was released in 2022.

James - whose directing credits include 'Guardians of the Galaxy and 'The Suicide Squad' - said on the platform: "To be fair, a 5 year gap or more is fairly common in sequels. 7 years between Alien and Aliens. 14 years between Incredibles. 7 years between the first two Terminators. 13 years between Avatars. 36 years between Top Guns. And, of course, 6 years between Guardians Vol 2 and Vol 3. (sic)"

Warner Bros recently announced that the sequel will be released on October 1, 2027, which prompted some fans to take to social media to express their frustrations.

The upcoming film is not actually part of the DC universe - but James observed that Matt, the director, will be desperate to do the best job possible, and therefore, he's determined to not rush the creative process.

James - who began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s - said: "Matt is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write.

"Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films."

Meanwhile, Matt recently teased some details of his much-anticipated sequel.

The acclaimed director explained that there's "there's a lot more gray" in 'The Batman Part II', which will see Robert Pattinson reprise the role of Bruce Wayne.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Matt shared: "In the first movie, Batman views things very simplistically, he sees things in black and white. What he can represent and how he can affect that.

"As we enter into the next movie, there's a lot more gray. There's a lot more people at odds. There’s a lot more division in the city."

Matt observed that the sequel is "a lot more like our world is now".

The filmmaker also noted that Batman has to find his own space amid the "turmoil" in the world.

Matt said: "It's a lot more like our world is now, there's a lot of turmoil because people are in their camps and they're not communicating.

"How does Batman fit into that? Where do you fit? It's not as clear as going, 'Oh yeah, bad guy, I go after bad guys'. And when things are in gray, it makes it very hard to be Batman, so this is part of the challenge as we enter it."