A new theory suggests that Charles Dance could be playing a notable DC villain in The Batman - Part II, the next chapter in Robert Pattinson's run as the Dark Knight. Dance's casting was first reported in April and confirmed by director Matt Reeves the following month, though the film's release has since been pushed back to February 18, 2028. Even with the delay, excitement for the sequel hasn't fully stopped, and with the movie still roughly a year and a half away, the biggest question is who the main villain will be. That's a sharp contrast to Part I, when Paul Dano's casting as the Riddler was reported years in advance.
Putting the pieces together, one theory pinpoints that Dance's true role could actually be Hugo Strange, the calculating psychiatrist-turned-criminal mastermind who has long been one of Batman's most cerebral foes.
On paper, the casting logic holds up: Dance has spent decades playing controlling authority figures, making his fit for a character who manipulates Gotham from behind a shroud of respectability really add up.
The theory also plays neatly into persistent rumors that the sequel will introduce the Court of Owls, hinted at by the film's since-reported working title, Semper Vigilans, Latin for "always watchful," which mirrors the Court's own nursery rhyme about a secret society "that watches all the time."
In the comics, Strange has deep ties to the kind of shadowy institutions that control Gotham from behind closed doors, so a version of the character tangled up with the Court wouldn't be a huge leap.
It would also line up with Reeves' own comments that the sequel's villain has "never really been done in a movie before," since Strange, despite being a familiar name to many fans through his role in the video game Batman: Arkham City, has never actually appeared in a live-action Batman film.
Adding to the speculation, Reeves also briefly posted (then later deleted) a social media tease from July 2025 referencing "Hugo as Hugo," which some have taken as a sign that the name Hugo Strange has been floating around the script at some point. The post itself was on Hugo Weaving, who, as of now, is not known to be part of the Part 2 cast.
Still, that theory is far from confirmed, and the lead villain of Reeves' next Batman chapter is a mystery.
As of now, reports have pointed to the fact that Dance is actually playing Christopher Dent, Harvey Dent's abusive father, and a character who has also never been depicted in a live-action Batman movie before. MCU alumni Scalrert Johansson has been considered a fit for the possible role of Gilda Dent, Harvey's fiancée in the comics.
Then again, the rumor mill hasn't exactly been reliable so far. Sebastian Stan was long expected to play Harvey before recent reports shifted him to Victor Zsasz instead, with Brian Tyree Henry now possibly taking on the Dent role.
If the reporting could flip that dramatically once, it's fair to wonder whether Dance's role could still shift, too.
The Batman Part 2 Villain Explained
Putting all the pieces together, the Court of Owls looks like the connective tissue holding every other rumor in place, with or without Hugo Strange involved.
Reeves has been dropping breadcrumbs about the secret society for months, including a cryptic set photo referencing the exact comic issues in which the Court's Talons go to war with the Bat-family.
Under that umbrella, the individual character rumors start to make more sense as pieces of a larger conspiracy rather than standalone villains: the Dent family's shady status in Gotham high society, Victor Zsasz functioning as muscle the Court could hire to unleash violent chaos and pull Batman's focus away from their trail, and even the lingering Hugo Strange chatter, given his comic book history of working for exactly this kind of institution.
For instance, in the New 52 Forever Evil crossover event, Hugo Strange aligns himself with the Secret Society of Super Villains as they cooperate with the invading Earth-3 Crime Syndicate. However, his presence is very minor, and whoever Dance is playing in the upcoming Batman film will be a main piece of the puzzle.
Stan himself has only muddied the villainous waters further, telling Deadline that he played "many roles in this one" without clarifying whether that refers to Two-Face's dual identity or something else entirely.
None of it is confirmed, and this rumor mill has already been changing directions without hard evidence.
But between the working title, the set clues, and Reeves' own words, the Court of Owls is the theory every other thread keeps leading back to, which might be exactly the point, even going back to the events of 2022's The Batman.
