The Batman ending and post-credits scene explained

The Batman has finally swooped (or glided?) into theaters, and fans of the Dark Knight, superheroes, and comic book movies have raced to the nearest theater to catch it. That's unsurprising in our view, as we thought The Batman was a masterpiece. 

Based on its largely positive critical reception, too, we're not shocked to see The Batman become the second movie (since the pandemic began) to gross $100 million-plus on opening weekend. The first? Spider-Man: No Way Home. If it wasn't obvious by now, superhero movies are literally saving the global box office.

But we digress. If you caught The Batman over the past weekend, we imagine you have questions about its ending and post-credits scene. Below, we’ll reveal what the ending of the Dark Knight’s latest movie means for an increasingly likely sequel. We also take a look at The Batman’s post-credits scene and explain more about the future of this Caped Crusader live-action franchise.

Major spoilers follow for The Batman. If you’ve yet to see it, turn back now. Bookmark this page, though, and read up on the information below once you’ve watched this DC movie.

The Batman ending explained 

Unsurprisingly, Batman – with some much-needed help from Selina Kyle – saves the day. 

Well, sort of. The duo stops the Riddler and his armed followers from killing Gotham City mayoral candidate Bella Reál, as well as her followers, at a rally. And, with the aid of Police Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Gotham’s law-abiding police officers, the pair leads people to safety after the Riddler’s sinister masterplan winds up flooding Gotham’s streets.

Riddler did win, though, in some small way. He revealed the extent of the corruption within Gotham, killed a number of innocent people, and terrorized the city with his fear-inducing videos and multiple crimes. He pushed Batman to his limit and, while the Riddler inadvertently made the Dark Knight realize how important he is to Gotham’s citizens, others aren’t convinced that the city is worth fighting for.

Disappointingly for Batman/Bruce Wayne, one of those individuals is Kyle. She tries to convince Batman to leave Gotham to its fate – “this place is never gonna change”, she tells him – and join her in Bludhaven. But Batman’s allegiances lie with his city and, after the duo playfully race their motorbikes through Gotham’s cemetery, they share a bittersweet goodbye before going their separate ways.

There is one particularly significant scene involving the Riddler and another Arkham Asylum inmate, which is shown before Batman and Kyle part ways. We've covered this in more detail in a separate article, complete with exclusive quotes from Reeves, who reveals more about this mysterious character, whose true identity has been revealed elsewhere on the internet. Be aware of those spoilers, too, if you want to remain in the dark (like Batman) about who he is.

The Batman post-credits scene: is there one? 

Yes, but it’s not really worth sticking around for. Once the credits have rolled, a simple ‘goodbye’ message – styled in the same way as Riddler’s green-colored computer messages from earlier in the film – pops up. It hangs around for a few seconds before the screen cuts to black.

Evidently, there’s not much we can infer from this. The message could simply be Warner Bros’ way of saying farewell to us after we’ve watched a three-hour-long – albeit brilliant – Batman movie. Given that the end credits scene also reveals a link to an official website – Rata Alada – that ties directly into The Batman's plot, the film's post-credits scene is most likely just a marketing ploy to get audiences to visit said website.

Alternatively, you could interpret it as the Riddler somehow getting access to his computer – we’re not sure how, seeing as he’s locked up in Arkham – and teasing us that he’ll return. It’s that, or one of his followers made it out alive and posted the message for him. 

We’ll have to wait and see if this post-credits scene ties into a potential sequel to The Batman. However, if we had to guess, we'd say that it could do.

Why? Well, following The Batman's theatrical launch, the Rata Alada website has started counting down to... something. If you head over to the site now, you'll be greeted by The Riddler's logo before a batch of green text flashes up on the screen. This information reveals the IP address for a number of Gotham-based websites, before it quickly transitions to another page.

On the reloaded webpage, you can click for a reward – you'll receive any number of images, or some background information on the Wayne family – if you do so. However, underneath the clickable link, you'll see the word 'Loading' alongside a percentage number. At the time of writing (10:35am GMT on Monday, March 7), that figure stands at 38%. On the evening of The Batman's March 4 release, it was only at 4%.

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So what is this hinting at? We think it has something to do with the "really cool" scene that Reeves left out of the film, as he told TechRadar before the film's release.

Alternatively, it could confirm that a sequel to The Batman is on the way once it hits 100%. That's less likely in our opinion, but we'd be delighted if that's what is revealed once the webpage is fully loaded. We'll keep you posted on this front.

The Batman sequel: will there be a follow-up? 

Yes, almost certainly. The Batman is one of 2022's most hotly anticipated movies and, according to Deadline, it's expected to make $225 million globally during its opening weekend. If it follows in Spider-Man: No Way Home's footsteps in amassing over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Warner Bros. would be silly not to greenlight a follow-up.

And it seems that they're on the verge of doing so. Reeves has already confirmed that he’s discussing a sequel to The Batman with Warner Bros, telling reporters at the film’s LA premiere (via the Bat_Source Twitter fan account) that “we have started talking about another movie”. 

Speaking exclusively to TechRadar ahead of The Batman’s release, Reeves doubled-down on his wish to make a follow-up movie. Reeves, though, suggested that The Batman’s ending wasn’t indicative of where a potential sequel could go from a plot perspective.

“I've been talking to Warner about ideas that I have for a follow-up,” Reeves told us. “But just to say, that last scene is not necessarily the idea for that sequel. It was more to lean into the idea at the end of the story that trouble was brewing [in Gotham].”

So where could a possible sequel go, both from a narrative and supervillain perspective? Interestingly, Reeves and The Batman star Robert Pattinson have already revealed which villains in Batman’s extensive rogues gallery they’d like to tackle in The Batman 2. Reeves said he’d love to create a new live-action version of Doctor Victor Fries/Mr Freeze (per Collider), while Pattinson wants his Dark Knight to take on the Court of Owls (via Den of Geek). 

We’ll have to see if either of those wishes come true, but it may be a while before we know for sure. According to The Batman producer Dylan Clark, it’ll be “less than five years” before a sequel arrives (per Comicbook.com). Hopefully, we'll hear some good news on that front sooner rather than later.

What we do know is that two Batman spin-off projects are in the works for HBO Max. Colin Farrell, who plays Oswald Cobblepot in The Batman, is getting a Penguin TV spin-off, with the Irish actor exclusively telling TechRadar about specific parts of its development. Meanwhile, a Gotham City Police Department TV series, set during Batman’s first year as a vigilante, is also on the way. Aside from news that Joe Barton (Girl/Haji) will be its showrunner, details on this project are few and far between.

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