Bat-fans are currently feasting on the latest crumb of “footage” from DC Studios‘ highly anticipated sequel, The Batman: Part II. On Thursday afternoon, filmmaker Matt Reeves shared a social media GIF of Scarlett Johansson from Jonathan Glazer’s acclaimed 2013 film Under the Skin, seemingly as a tonal homage to the actress’s role as Gilda Dent (shown below), making her way toward Gotham City. In the GIF, we see Johansson’s alien character from the A24 film reflected in a rearview mirror as a shadow passes over her face and blurred lights streak by. It’s not much, but the image is haunting and stylish, and it definitely has the vibe of a new Reeves-directed Batman film.
In the comics, Gilda Dent is Harvey Dent’s wife and eventually becomes the villain known as the holiday-themed serial killer Holiday. Sebastian Stan plays Harvey Dent in the upcoming sequel, a District Attorney who, after a tragic accident, becomes the villain Two-Face. In the comics (and movies), Dent’s accident affects him psychologically, splitting his mind and emotions in two. Harvey, the DA, struggles to retain any semblance of his former life, while Two-Face thrives on chaos and revenge. Because the two halves cannot agree, Two-Face uses a tarnished coin to decide the fate of his victims.
The Batman: Part II stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, Barry Keoghan as The Joker, Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent, Scarlett Johansson as Gilda Dent, Charles Dance as Christopher Dent, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, and Jayme Lawson as Bella Real.
Earlier this year, Farrell shared his thoughts about Reeves’s script for the new film, saying, “I read the script, and it’s just brilliant,” he said. “My perspective is that it’s a work of contemporary genre brilliance. It really is. Matt toils so hard, and he puts himself under such pressure. And he realizes what this character and this world mean to so many people, and he knows it’s been around for decades; he’s the man for the job. He really is. He’s a brilliant filmmaker. The thing about Matt, as well, is that, as commercially minded as he is, he’s also so intellectually rigorous.”
He continued, “This film, like the first one, works on multiple levels, both as pure entertainment and as an investigation into the psychology of the characters of Bruce Wayne and Batman. It’s really, really moving. I found myself very emotionally moved while I was reading it.”
What do you think about the GIF of Scarlett Johansson’s Gilda Dent? Do you think she’ll become Holiday in the film? We’ve still got more than a year to go until the film arrives in theaters on October 2, 2027, but now that promotional materials are hitting the wild, things should begin to heat up.