Even though there was an announcement and everything, there are still people online claiming that Steven Soderbergh is replacing Matt Reeves. This is more of a social media thing, given that people are still trying to manipulate algorithms. The more engagement, the more they can get paid on platforms like Twitter. This is nothing like the Zack Snyder issue with the old Warner Bros. regime.

“As Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh, as an admirer of Matt’s work, approached Matt and will step in, with the full support of DC Studios, to help the writer-director complete the final weeks of principal photography on ‘The Batman Part 2,’” a studio rep said in a statement. “Matt and Steven will work closely together with the actors and crew to fulfill Matt’s vision of the film.”

As we said in our last post about this, don’t believe randos on social media. Just because they share your beliefs about Snyder, doesn’t make it true. Steven Soderbergh even backed up their statement with his own explanation. “I thought Matt Reeves’ work on ‘The Batman’ was stunning; it was intentional, specific and rigorously coherent,” Soderbergh statement said. “The goal here is to work with Matt and his team to generate footage that will integrate seamlessly with what’s already been shot so Matt can properly finish his film.”

Steven Soderbergh is Not Replacing Matt Reeves

While I took time off for mental health reasons, this story came out late in the week. Silly me, I thought this would squash misinformation about Reeves being forced out. I forgot that I was dealing with the internet.

“Just to be clear, I am not leaving The Batman Part II,” Reeves said on Twitter. “I am profoundly grateful to Steven for coming to my aid during this challenging time to help me finish principal photography. Thank you to all for your concern and well wishes.”

Some online are still comparing it to Snyder, which is not remotely the same. After of pair of box office disappointments with his two Snyderverse films, Warner Bros. in a shitty move (even though I didn’t like BvS) was their way of taking over production. However, Reeves will be involved in the final weeks of production and will return for post-production.

Why this matters?

It is safe to assume that many people don’t give a shit. However, pedestrian internet users see this and will believe it to be true. Even though Google is free and on the same device. A lot of this sort of content is ragebait.

They use the system to teach the algorithm to see large engagement. Unfortunately, the algorithm doesn’t see the quality of the engagement. It just sees a lot of action happening on the account and figures more people will want to see this.

Even James Gunn is tired of debunking misinformation on social media. “Oh brother,” Gunn said on Threads. “You guys just have to stop listening to BS, and I’m mostly done shooting down rumors as there are so many and I’m not on here much. But all three of these couldn’t be more false. I’m showing PETER SAFRAN my first Director’s Cut today – he’s the first person to see it obviously – and that’s a month early!”