Various Batman villains have appeared on the big screen over the years, but some big names still have not received the live-action theatrical treatment. Despite a nearly 40-year history at the movies, Batman films have typically fallen back on the same popular villains. Names like Joker, Two-Face, and Bane have gotten plenty of play on the silver screen, but there are so many more characters in the Batman canon just waiting to be adapted.
With several big-screen Batman projects on the horizon, like The Batman Part 2 and The Brave and the Bold, there will be plenty of opportunity for DC Studios to stamp its stamp on the world of the Dark Knight, bringing forth a fresh face or two when it comes to who the Caped Crusader will be going up against. It is just a matter of doing it.
The most imminent live-action Batman movie is Matt Reeves' The Batman 2, which is due out on October 1, 2027. A finished script for the film has been long in the works, but word is that Reeves finally turned in a draft to close out June.
Not much is known about The Batman 2, including who will be in the film and what villain will make themselves known. However, it has been confirmed that Robert Pattinson will be back in the suit, serving as Reeves' take on the iconic Caped Crusader.
6 Batman Villains That Still Need the Big Screen Treatment
The Court of Owls
While a relatively recent addition to the Batman canon, The Court of Owls has become one of the most popular and fan-requested villains to get the big screen treatment.
The Machiavellian criminal organization is a highly influential group of Gotham City socialites who spend their evenings committing murder and pulling the strings of everything happening within Gotham. The group first got Batman stuck in its talons in Scott Snyder's Batman run from 2012, as the Dark Knight started to suspect the group may have been behind his parents' death decades earlier.
Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise feels like the perfect place to introduce the criminal cabal, with the foundation for a Gotham-spanning conspiracy set up in his first Batman movie. Star Robert Pattinson has even chimed in on the villain, saying, "Court of Owls would be dope" for the sequel.
Hush
Even though the Batman: Hush comic story by Jeph Loeb has been heralded as a seminal adventure for the Caped Crusader, its titular villain character has never made his way over to DC's theatrical efforts (which is a crime).
Hush (aka Thomas "Tommy" Elliot) is a former friend of Bruce Wayne who, after Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne, thwarts Tommy's plots to murder his own parents, vows to get revenge on the Waynes no matter what it takes. He resurfaces years later, sporting bandages on his face to conceal his identity.
After discovering Bruce Wayne's super-powered secret, he uses other villains in Batman's life to fool him into thinking those closest to him are dead. Adapting the Hush's vendetta storyline for the big screen could provide the most personal live-action Batman vs villain story yet—and The Batman director Matt Reeves agrees.
Red Hood
Red Hood would require some significant setup for his arrival in a live-action Batman movie to make the impact it deserves, but it would totally be worth the wait. Red Hood is the villainous alter-ego of Jason Todd (aka Batman's second Robin).
After Jason is thought to have been captured, tortured, and killed by The Joker, the Red Hood emerges from the shadows as a new villain. He eventually reveals his identity and pushes Batman to the edge as he faces what he considers his biggest mistake as a superhero.
The Red Hood story looked like it was being set up in Zack Snyder's DCEU; however, as fans know all too well by now, that particular narrative was cut short. Jason Todd/the Red Hood is said to be a part of the upcoming animated Dynamic Duo movie, but that looks to take place after the character has taken a heroic turn.
Man-Bat
For the most part, Batman's live-action movies have pitted the Caped Crusader against the character's more grounded villains. Whether it is riddle-spewing serial killers or masked hulking military leaders, most of Batman's big-screen big bads have come down to simply being another guy in a suit. So, why not dive into the character's more bizarre villains for a future project?
One prime candidate for this sort of angle would be the iconic Man-Bat. Man-Bat is a human-bat hybrid created after zoologist Dr. Robert Kirkland "Kirk" Langstrom experimented on himself to give humans bat-like hearing.
This resulted in Dr. Langstrom becoming a half-man, half-bat freak of nature that soars the night skies of Gotham City. Like Mr. Freeze, the character is one of Batman's more sympathetic villains (being the result of noble causes gone wrong), which, if tackled by the right filmmaker, could present a fascinating moral dilemma for audiences watching at home.
Professor Pyg
If live-action Batman ever wanted to go full horror, then the powers that be at DC Studios should look no further than the terrifying Professor Pyg.
Pyg is considered one of the scariest and most deranged characters in the DC canon, being a former scientist who suffers a schizophrenic breakdown and becomes the pig-mask wearing Professor Pyg.
He is known for kidnapping various Gotham City residents and using grotesque surgical techniques mixed with complex chemical treatments to transform people into mindless, defiled automatons that obey his every command.
Hugo Strange
Dr. Hugo Strange feels like he is just waiting for his live-action Batman movie debut. Whether it be The Batman Part 2 or the DCU's The Brave and the Bold, this criminally mad scientist could be the perfect fit in any big-screen Batman project.
Strange is one of the Dark Knight's oldest adversaries on the page. He is a mad scientist who uses various horrendous experiments to fuel his criminal pursuits. The character is also known for being obsessed with Batman's secret identity and is one of the first villains to learn that Bruce Wayne is the one under the cowl.
Hugo Strange was supposed to get the big screen treatment in Warner Bros. cancelled Batgirl movie, but that project notably never saw the light of day (despite essentially being done).
