We here at io9 take solace in knowing that with each night’s sleep, we come just that much closer to finally witnessing Matt Reeves’ long-awaited sequel film, The Batman Part II. With all the delays and scant details about the apparently being mind-blowing script, all we’ve had to go on lately about the caper is that Scarlett Johansson may be jumping from Marvel to DC Studios to take part in the film.
Naturally, her role in the movie is as-yet unknown. So, we’ve decided to take an educated approach to assembling a shortlist of characters we think she’d be perfect for, without mentioning the obvious—Poison Ivy—because we think Reeves will do a deeper pull than that.
Watch this space in case the previous sentence ages poorly. Here are our picks, by order of most to least likely, to gel with Reeves’ flavor of Gotham.
Silver St. Cloud
Detective Comics #471 © DC Comics
The challenge with casting Johansson is finding that balance between Reeves’ distinctly grounded approach to Batman’s more supernatural mythos and the star’s proven ability to play decisive, badass, and calculating characters. So, what better way to nip all of that in the bud than by having ScarJo play an underutilized woman in Batman’s life: Silver St. Cloud? Seeing as we didn’t get to see much of Bruce Wayne in The Batman, giving him a romantic interest fresh off the melancholy of Catwoman, who primarily banters with the grunge Wayne while getting put in harm’s way of all the villainous Gothamites, is a good fit for Johansson. She could flex her acting muscles with a character who’s less about her combat skills and more about her gift of gab and opulence.
With St. Cloud, Johnannson could bring the necessary demure, shrewd quality, as well as enhance the emotional aspects of Bruce Wayne’s vigilante journey. He’s still early in his career, trying to balance plates and put out fires in his personal life and on Gotham’s streets.
And if the Penguin’s empire building—which we’ve witnessed in gruesome detail—threatens Wayne and anyone he might hold dear, it’ll be interesting to watch the testing of how far is too far for Robert Pattinson’s slowly reforming Batman.
Vicki Vale
Batman: Arkham City © Rocksteady Studios/WB Games Montréal
Batman has a come-to-vengeance moment about his mode of justice not being exactly what Gotham needs at the end of the first film, but he’s still a pretty understated Bruce Wayne. It would be interesting if his second film outing sees him come to grips with both his crime-fighting and socialite lives by way of Gotham’s pesky reporter, Vicki Vale.
Who knows, maybe Johansson’s real-life hubby, Colin Jost, can give her pointers for the right kind of annoying on-the-spot journalism questions that would make Bruce Wayne break his facade. Regardless, it would be a more inspired casting for her than to have her play yet another Poison Ivy. We’d even take Batman: The Animated Series‘ Summer Gleeson over her.
Julia Pennyworth
The Joker #7 © DC Comics
We all know Alfred Pennyworth is the dad who stepped up for Bruce. But what if there were a subplot where his own fraught relationship with his estranged daughter was given some space, with Julia Pennyworth coming into the fray? Maybe the film can go full Absolute Batman, characterizing their relationship as so fraught that it’s virtually nonexistent.
Or perhaps she can be like her other comic-book iterations: a capable woman with a special-agent background in her own right who can aid Batman in his crime-fighting. In all that, we can have some bits of her and Bruce being begrudging step-siblings of sorts, with her blaming his crime-fighting (should she inevitably stumble upon his big secret) for her father nearly dying in the last film. Admittedly, this is the most AO3 casting of this list. Do with that what you will.
Nora Fries
Batman: The Animated Series © DC Studios
Mr. Freeze is a D1 Batman villain, and I would give away my entire digital footprint for the off chance Reeves releases a key visual for the film, transforming the bold red hue of its first to a cold blue, assuring we’re diving into a peak villain. So, with my heart now spilled on the page for all to see, having Johansson play Victor’s frozen beloved, Nora Fries, would be a great way to make her the centerpiece of the film as a cool visual while not straying too far into the fantastical of the Batman mythos.
As a resident Chicagoan whose college classmates all bunched up their phones in their hands to catch DC film motorcycle sequences in the Loop, I think having the film set in the historically chilly Chicago winter would make for a striking contrast to the first film’s very rainy aesthetic. Sure, Johansson might not have a lot to do as Nora, but she’d at least be a significant character for the plotting of Victor and his more empathetic reasons for villainy.
Helena Bertinelli/Huntress
Justice League Unlimited © DC Studios
We all know from past experiences with Johansson playing Black Widow, that covert-ops expert in the Jurassic World Rebirth, and the Major in the Ghost in the Shell movie (maybe forget that one) that she likes to play characters who kick ass. It might be a bit soon to have another vigilante running around in Gotham, what with Batman still being a relatively fresh face on the scene, but Helena Bertinelli’s Huntress might make for a fun foil to whatever Bruce Wayne might have going on. She could be a fellow vigilante fighting against Gotham’s crime wave in the wake of the Penguin’s rise.
Imagine it: Batman struggling with what he sees as copycats after being once bitten and twice shy from Paul Dano’s Riddler while coming to grips with the fact that he can’t be everywhere at once to save his city. With Huntress, Batman could allow himself to have help that’s more permanent and less fair-weather (cough, cough, Catwoman). They could certainly double-team whatever big bad is galavanting about Gotham this go-around.
Magda
Detective Comics #471 © DC Comics
Far be it from us to cast Johansson as a villain’s assistant. Still, given her propensity for redheaded comic-book characters and for playing both sides of the moral line, Magda could be another choice role for her. Granted, this role will be yet another deep pull that’ll see her playing second fiddle to Hugo Strange, but imagine the head trip that movie could be, with a villain who’s hellbent on psychologically breaking Bruce Wayne and Batman both. You might call it far-fetched; I call it one step closer to seeing a silver-screen version of Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.
Dawn Golden
Batman: The Dark Knight #4 © DC Comics
Dawn Golden is admittedly as deep a pull as any female Batman character has ever been in a mainstream film. But hear us out. As far as romantic interests go for Bruce Wayne, no character would strike as deep a chord as Dawn Golden. She’s got the distinction of being a childhood friend of Bruce’s, which will definitely play well with him. She could help him pick up the pieces after being demystified about his father’s virtues. She’s also a character he loves and lets in close enough that she figures out the truth about his double life.
Naturally, this makes her perfect cannon fodder for the Penguin and other baddies, making her involvement an emotional journey not only for a Batman less green behind the cowl but also for Bruce Wayne. Think a sentimental, vulnerable Batman film elevated by Johansson going a bit outside the box of her action movie typecasting for something a bit more Lost in Translation. Sure, Dawn’s comic-book tale is wildly supernatural (especially at the end), but Johansson as the character could be golden casting.
Black Widow
Batman © Warner Bros.
Every list needs its joke pick, and that’s why we think it’d be supremely funny for The Batman Part II to poke fun at the phenomenon of Johansson’s comic book claim to fame by reprising (in name only) her role as a long-forgotten rogue in Batman’s gallery: Black Widow.
Tallulah Bankhead leaves mighty big shoes for Johansson to fill. But we’re confident she can make a villainess who uses hypnosis and narcotics to stupefy her foes grounded enough for Reeves’ Batman world. Plus, we honestly want to see a bunch of goons running around Gotham wearing red hourglasses on their shirts like they were in the Arkham games, so there’d be no question who they’re repping.
Time will tell whether any of the above picks will pan out for Johansson in The Batman Part II, which is set to release in 2027. Just remember io9 called it first if any of these characters come through—and will be upset if she ends up as Poison Ivy after all.
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