DC’s New Batman Trilogy Is Set To Start & End Before The Batman 2 Releases

Published Sep 1, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Batman's new movie trilogy is expected to release in its entirety before The Batman 2's debut, helping tide fans over in the gap between the first and second of Matt Reeves' DC films. While there've been a wide roster of Batman movies for audiences to enjoy over the years, this run has been one that's provided plenty of gaps and waits for eager viewers as well, with the wait for The Batman 2 being the newest addition. The six-year-long gap between The Batman's 2022 release and The Batman 2's 2028 release is a long wait, albeit the kind that's not unheard of - as, for example, there was four years between 2008's The Dark Knight and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, and a range of much bigger gaps between the franchise's various series. However, the delays that have taken The Batman 2 from its original debut date of 2025 to its current October 2028 release date have emphasized this later release date to audiences, especially with so many eager to see what happens next. That said, those eager to see more of the Dark Knight and his quest to protect Gotham do have other fresh installments to enjoy, be that in the form of Batman: Caped Crusader season 2, or in the form of the new Batman trilogy that's reportedly set to have all three chapters release before The Batman 2 comes out. The Batman: Knightfall Trilogy Is Set To Release Between Now & 2027 Batman: Knightfall Part 1 released just days ago on August 25, 2026, but the rest of the trilogy isn't far away from debuting already. Currently, the Knightfall animated trilogy is reportedly scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027, with Part 2 expected to release before the end of 2026, and Part 3 expected to release before the end of 2027, completing the trilogy between the two years (as per ComicBook). Naturally, this means the Batman: Knightfall trilogy is due to be one of the quickest Batman movie series in the hero's history in terms of its real-world release dates, as the entire three-film-long series will take at most just over a year to debut from start to finish. This is made doubly interesting by the fact it means an entire Batman movie series will have released during the time inbetween The Batman and The Batman 2's release - since the original came out in 2022, and its sequel is currently due to release in 2028. That said, the differences between these two Batman movie series do explain the contrasts between these release timelines. Why Batman: Knightfall's Trilogy Can Be Released Much Quicker Than The Batman 2 Image via MovieStillsDB Ultimately, it's somewhat inevitable that there would be drastic differences between the Batman: Knightfall trilogy's release and the release between the first and second chapters of The Batman series, given the circumstances around both movie lines. Whereas The Batman 2's script is constructed more independently of the comics - leading to a longer production time in this regard - the Batman: Knightfall trilogy appears to adapt the comic story of the same name far more closely, meaning that while effort still had to go into ensuring the script adapted the comics authentically, its construction was a less complex affair. Similarly, while the animation of the Batman: Knightfall trilogy requires talented artists and some considerable time and effort on their part to construct, this can be done with perhaps fewer moving parts to balance compared to actively filming a live-action movie on The Batman 2's scale, particularly when factoring in things like the film having to get filming permission for the various places certain scenes are recorded in. As such, it makes plenty of sense that the Batman: Knightfall trilogy currently looks set to start and finish in between The Batman and The Batman 2, even if this does draw the 6-year wait for the 2028 Batman movie sequel into even more definition overall.