Sebastian Stan hinted at the full arc of his character in The Batman: Part II this week, telling Deadline he will play “many roles in this one” — a comment widely read as confirming he will portray Harvey Dent’s complete transformation into the villain Two-Face in Matt Reeves’ long-awaited sequel.
Stan made the remarks on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, where he was celebrating the Palme d’Or victory of Fjord, directed by Cristian Mungiu. He said he is headed to London imminently to begin filming and described his emotional state ahead of the shoot with characteristic candor: “I’m excited, I’m nervous and trying to keep surprising myself.” He also revealed he has already been collaborating with the hair and makeup teams, who have been designing how his character’s disfigurement will look on screen.
Reeves officially confirmed the sequel’s full cast last week, announcing that Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Jayme Lawson and Gil Perez-Abraham would reprise their roles, joined by new additions Scarlett Johansson, Stan, Charles Dance, Sebastian Koch and Brian Tyree Henry. The director did not specify which characters the newcomers would play, though Dance is expected to play Dent’s father, Christopher, and Johansson is rumored to portray Gilda, his wife.
The character Stan appears to be inhabiting carries considerable weight in Batman mythology. Harvey Dent begins as Gotham’s district attorney before his descent into madness following a disfiguring acid attack, after which he adopts the Two-Face persona. The dual identity — a morally upright prosecutor warring with a coin-flipping criminal — is precisely the kind of fractured characterization Stan’s “many roles” comment seems to telegraph.
Stan is coming off an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Donald Trump in The Apprentice, a performance that demonstrated his ability to inhabit complex, larger-than-life public figures. The transition from Marvel’s Winter Soldier, a role he held for over a decade, to one of DC’s most psychologically layered antagonists marks a significant pivot.
Rumors have circulated that Stan may in fact be playing a different villain entirely, though his own comments to Deadline — combined with his discussions about makeup and disfigurement — have dampened that speculation considerably. Barry Keoghan is also expected to return as the Joker. The Batman: Part II is scheduled for release on October 1, 2027.
