On Tuesday morning half the internet learned that Sebastian Stan had finally confirmed he is playing Harvey Dent in The Batman Part II. Forbes ran it. The AV Club ran it. Aggregators everywhere ran it.
He never said it. The quote came out of a French newspaper interview and the English version that spread was a mistranslation. The paper has since corrected it, and the correction is traveling at roughly a tenth the speed of the original.
What He Actually Said
The interview ran in Le Journal du Dimanche, conducted before Cannes in May and published Monday, August 17.
The accurate translation of the relevant passage is this: I also can’t say anything about Matt Reeves’ The Batman: Part II. The beauty of this profession also lies in participating in projects of this scale, which I love as a viewer. No role is named anywhere in it.
What the Bad Version Said
The version that went everywhere added five words: where I play Harvey Dent. That clause does not exist in the original.
It is a small error with an enormous downstream effect, because Harvey Dent is Two Face, and Two Face is one of the two or three most anticipated casting slots in the entire DC slate. Attach a name to it and the story writes itself, which is exactly why nobody stopped to check the French.
How a Mistranslation Becomes a Fact
The mechanics here are worth understanding because they repeat constantly. One outlet translates a foreign language interview. A second outlet aggregates the first without going back to the source. A third aggregates the second. By the fourth hop, the original French is four links away and nobody has clicked through.
Foreign language entertainment interviews are a persistent weak point in this chain. Actors give them precisely because the resulting quotes tend to stay in that market. When one does break out, it usually travels through machine translation and a rushed rewrite.
There is also a reason this particular error was so sticky. Stan has spent a decade being cast in exactly this kind of role, and Harvey Dent fits the shape of his career so neatly that the claim felt pre confirmed. Plausibility is what lets a bad quote travel. Nobody stress tests a fact that already matches what they expected.
What Stan’s Role Actually Is
Unknown, and the existing reporting contradicts itself. A January 2026 report said Harvey Dent. In June 2026, scooper Jeff Sneider reported that Stan is playing Victor Zsasz and that Brian Tyree Henry is Harvey Dent.
Sneider is a single source with a mixed record, which is how scooping works. Neither claim has been confirmed by Warner Bros., Matt Reeves or Stan. The only honest position today is that Sebastian Stan is in The Batman Part II in an unannounced role.
Who Is Actually Confirmed
Robert Pattinson returns as Batman. Jeffrey Wright returns as Gordon. Andy Serkis returns as Alfred. Colin Farrell returns as the Penguin, coming off his own spin off series.
Everything else you have read is unconfirmed. Scarlett Johansson as a Poison Ivy variant and Charles Dance in an unspecified role are both rumors with no studio confirmation behind them.
Matt Reeves has also run an unusually tight production on secrecy, which compounds everything. In the absence of official casting announcements, scoopers fill the vacuum, outlets aggregate the scoopers, and the fandom treats repetition as corroboration. The studio’s silence is a choice, and this is the predictable cost of it.
The Release Date Moved and Fewer People Noticed
The Batman Part II now opens February 18, 2028. It was pushed from 2027 in a Warner Bros. date shuffle in July 2026, confirmed by the trades at the time.
That is six years after the first film, which came out in March 2022. Several outlets are still running the outdated October 2027 date, which is its own small illustration of the same problem this whole story is about. For our rundown of what the studios have actually confirmed this year, see our coverage of every major Marvel reveal from D23 2026.
The Other Half of the Interview Was Real
Lost in the Batman noise is that Stan said something genuinely newsworthy about Avengers: Doomsday in the same conversation.
Honestly, he said, I have absolutely no idea because we didn’t even have a script. We were just shooting scattered scenes. He explained that the Russo brothers withheld full scripts from the cast to prevent leaks. Doomsday opens December 18, 2026, which means a tentpole Marvel film is four months from release and its cast still does not know the plot. That is the story people should be discussing.
And the Tobey Maguire Thing Is Also Unconfirmed
Trending alongside all of this was Tobey Maguire, on the strength of an August 12 claim from insider Daniel Richtman that Maguire filmed Doomsday scenes in motion capture because a suit was not ready, and will wear an upgraded version of his original suit in reshoots.
Single source, no confirmation, and no Spider-Man actor has been officially announced for Doomsday at all. Thunderbolts is in the conversation only because Stan’s Bucky Barnes joined the New Avengers at the end of it, which is context rather than news.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sebastian Stan playing Harvey Dent?
Unconfirmed. The quote saying so was a mistranslation of a French interview that has since been corrected. Stan has not named his role.
What did Sebastian Stan actually say?
That he cannot say anything about The Batman Part II, and that he enjoys being part of projects of that scale. He named no character.
Who is confirmed for The Batman Part II?
Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell. Everything else remains rumor.
When does The Batman Part II come out?
February 18, 2028, after being pushed back from 2027 in July 2026.
What did he say about Avengers: Doomsday?
That there was no full script and the cast shot scattered scenes, because the Russo brothers withheld scripts to prevent leaks.
Is Tobey Maguire in Avengers: Doomsday?
Unconfirmed. The claim comes from a single insider and no Spider-Man actor has been officially announced.
