F or years the follow-up to Matt Reeves’ slick but glacially paced 2022 comic-book epic The Batman has existed in a dimly lit rumour void. We know it will eventually get here (supposedly in October 2027), but nobody knows quite what it will look like. Entire geological epochs may come and go before the film-maker finally decides which doyen of Batman’s infamous rogues’ gallery he wants to unleash next. The foundations of Gotham itself may shift before Reeves works out which brooding, rain-soaked grunge ditty will form the basis of the new soundtrack.

And then – out of nowhere – comes this week’s news that Scarlett Johansson is in final talks to join the cast of the sequel . We have no idea who she’s likely to play but it matters not: this feels consequential, a bat-signal flickerin

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