DC Studio’s upcoming shared-universe DCU Batman project The Brave and the Bold is the subject of multiple rumors and heated anticipation. So far, most rumors have proven false and the studio has consistently said no projects will move forward unless and until a script has been perfected and given the green light. But the project is slowly taking shape, in terms of confirmations of things previously unclear and unknown.
Zoë Kravitz and Robert Pattinson star in “The Batman.”
Source: Warner, Photo by Jonathan Olley
Batman – The Plan
Andy Muschietti (It, It: Chapter Two, The Flash, It: Welcome to Derry) is directing the DCU introduction of Batman in The Brave and the Bold off a screenplay by Christina Hodson (who wrote Birds of Prey and The Flash, the latter a criminally underrated film), featuring the sidekick Robin.
But this time, the youngster accompanying the Caped Crusader is his own son Damian. Or at least, that was the original plan. Things have “evolved,” according to DC Studios co-CEO (and Superman writer-director) James Gunn, with regard to the parentage question and timing.
So we’ll see how that all shakes out, but it sounds like it’s at least reached a point where the writer’s name is been confirmed after months of speculation, and a Batman tie-in film later this year will give us our first peak at the DCU’s Gotham City (more on that in a moment).
Batman Merger Officially Not Happening
It’s worth taking a moment to do a sort of “wake” for the deceased hopes and speculation that some sort of merger between the DCU and Matt Reeves’ The Batman solo franchise might happen, to help any disappointed fans or financially concerned folks embrace the fact we’re getting a new Batman for the DCU.
With some DCU plans in flux and a lot of secrecy around The Brave and the Bold, and with equal mystery around The Batman: Part II and seeming contradictory statements at various times from different people involved in either project, there was a sense for a while that a final choice about introducing a different Batman or some sort of crossover (even if it were simply Robert Pattinson playing different versions of the character in each franchise) might be delayed until WBD’s planned merger with Netflix.
Many fans of The Batman and Superman supported the idea of merging the cinematic worlds, pointing to the similarities to 2013 when Warner Bros. decided not to merge The Dark Knight universe with Man of Steel. Others feel that comparison demonstrates how much better it was that the DCEU didn’t play out with Christian Bale’s Batman and instead got a more “comic-authentic” fantastical approach to the character that fits better into a shared superhero world.
The latter point suggests had the DCEU been a little more family-friendly and upbeat after Man of Steel, the later success of the early DCEU films (Man of Steel $670 million, Batman v Superman $874 million, Suicide Squad $749 million, Wonder Woman $824 million, Justice League $661 million, Aquaman $1.1 billion) might’ve been boosted 10-20% higher and turned it into a rousing success. The theatrical Justice League was just a disaster and should’ve been postponed for Zack Snyder to return and split it into two films, even further elevating the DCEU’s success.
I say this all to make the case that, if a merger of Superman’s DCU and The Batman rightly sounds like a blockbuster marriage made in heaven, so does creating a new unique Batman in a shared universe that’s equalling Marvel MCU Phase Two and early-Phase Three box office (as the DCEU would have during those same years, with just a 10-15% increase for a few titles). So really, financially speaking, each roll of the dice has its own benefits and risks.
Personally, I’m glad Matt Reeves gets to continue building his own separate Batman world as-is and as intended from the start, and meanwhile we will get a different DCU Batman from a whole other great team. More Batman, with diversity of approaches, is a good thing, and while Reeves’s world is ripe for additional spinoff miniseries and even potentially spinoff films (Catwoman, anybody?), but his trilogy of Batman movies might bring it all to a close sometime around 2030 or thereabouts (especially if The Batman: Part II will be quickly followed by Part III, which I believe is possible depending on how much the overall plan is what I suspect for the Epic Crime Saga).
Likewise, I’m excited at the idea of a fully expanded Batman world and Bat-Family in live action with the rest of the DCU, and particularly if Gunn’s side remarks about liking the horror aspects in certain Batman comics was some sort of wider commentary on a preference toward such an approach in the new films.
Which is a lot of assumption, and maybe (probably? probably) wrong. But, BUT, he said it and he’s in charge. And the first DCU film set in Batman’s world is indeed a horror film. And Muchietti made some of the best horror films of all time, as well as doing an excellent job with The Flash (again, that film will get a reconsideration some day and it’s reputation will catch up to it, because it improves with every viewing and it was already a damn good film).
Since we’re speculating and technically just about anything feels possible, it would be a funny surprise if they convinced Christian Bale and the supporting cast from The Dark Knight Trilogy to return in a tweaked-toward-horror continuation of that franchise, with Talia al Ghul (portrayed by Marion Cotillard in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises) showing up alive (the League of Shadows ninjas took her body and revived her) with son Damian (maybe Miles Ekhardt?) in tow. Even the bat-suit from The Dark Knight films could be adapted with gray body armor and black cowl, mask, gloves, and boots, for something closer to the “superhero” look (perhaps his attempt to compromise on Superman’s notion they should try harder to look less scary and more heroic and fun to the public at large).
And hey, The Dark Knight Trilogy brings a popular built-in rogues gallery of villains – Ra’s (whom they can bring back in a supernatural version of these characters), Talia, Bane, Scarecrow, Joker, Zsaz, Two-Face (again, revive Dent with simple enough “he survived but was braindead and kept tucked away in a hospital overseas on Bruce Wayne’s dime, until something awakens him in the film he reappears in”), and even a potential Riddler if “Mister Reese” is retconned into an alias pun for “Mysteries” and Kyle Reese (the guy who figures out Bruce is Batman in The Dark Knight) becomes the Riddler. Not to mention a big cast of mobsters and ninjas still roaming around, as well as a Nightwing waiting in the wings with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
I think tweaking all of that toward accepting more supernaturalism and horror tonally and in plots, in the otherwise grounded corrupt Gotham of the original trilogy, and then adding slightly more superhero sensibilities (which Batman Begins actually had, although people forget) including a more comics-like coloring and design to his costume, would be eagerly embraced by audiences. Recasting the Joker would stir controversy, but it’s been long enough I think most people would respect an approach that puts Joaquin Phoenix’s version of the villain from 2019’s Joker into the spot, to play the character as a new version inspired by both.
None of that will happen, of course, however much it might sound like a pretty good idea when you stop and think about it a while. But this is the end of the era of “what if?” for the DCU’s Batman, as we move into a new stage of DCU with director James Watkins’ Clayface, written by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, releasing in September and The Batman: Part II entering production this spring. So we gotta get any last speculation and fun “what if” conversations out of the way now, right?
Batman – First Glimpse
All eyes will be on CinemaCon in Las Vegas from April 13th through 16th, for any word about Clayface, the upcoming DCU release set in the new rebooted shared universe alongside last year’s Superman and this year’s Supergirl.
Clayface could give us indications of what to expect from the DCU’s version of Batman, from a horror-skewed point of view that maybe/hopefully will carry over into Batman’s own films in the DCU. As a fan of Muchietti’s and Hodson’s work, and with the potential for some horror-leaning Batman stories, I’m quite happy with how things are progressing.
I’m also wondering if Brave and the Bold will reflect Gunn’s own seeming recognition of a need to refocus the genre toward more accessibility for kids as much as for adults, as he smartly did in Superman and wound up with the only superhero film to break the top-10 box office for 2025. Indeed, Muschietti’s work on the It films and spinoff miniseries involved a lot of work with young actors, and he spoke to me about the fearlessness and less self-aware manner in which child actors approach scenes and characters, when I interviewed him and editor Esther Sokolow about their HBO miniseries It: Welcome to Derry.
If so, then perhaps we’ll get a movie that centers Robin (be it Damian, or Dick Grayson first) and shows us that world from his perspective looking up to Batman. The Caped Crusader himself could be a supporting or co-lead in that situation, and I think it would be a fresh approach that invites a larger family audience to embrace the film and generate repeat business.
I’d point to Terminator 2: Judgment Day as offering a perfect template for that sort of perspective, in Edward Furlong’s John Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Uncle Bob” T-800. Schwarzenegger’s deadpan straight-man to Furlong’s smirking delinquent; the cold competent all-knowing fighting machine as an unstoppable force of physical dominance and will, alongside the humanizing emotional vulnerability and misdirected anger of a brilliant kid with tremendous potential that’s been squandered without guidance. Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor also represents Batman in this comparison, and provides additional dynamics and thematics serving as nice templates for the approach to Batman and Robin’s relationship (think of her angry speech to Miles Dyson, prophetic and fiery, suddenly interrupted by John who wants to just keep things moving and forego the thematic posture of the moment).
It’s not a precise dynamic-duo comparison, but tonally and as a fast way of conceptualizing it, I think this works to pinpoint a good approach for a Brave and the Bold film that shifts its point of view slightly off-center toward Robin’s perspective. This could work well, whether it’s the story of Dick Grayson losing his family before being adopted and trained by Batman, or (still presumably the plan of course) Damian entering Batman’s life as a kid who’s only known training and discipline, fighting and killing, but who idolizes the myth of his father – not just the myth around Batman, but the myth of that myth in Damian’s personal hopes and expectations.
While there are plenty of ways to successfully tell these tales, and I have lots of faith in Muchietti and Hodson and the rest of the team around the film and at DC Studios, my personal sense is that audiences respond best to Batman who is solo, in his own world, and grounded in pretend-realism like The Batman, or a Batman with all-ages potential and an entry point for younger viewers like Batman Forever. Since Matt Reeves is already going the first route, I’d say there is a good opportunity to take the other road for the DCU’s version of Batman.
Then again, it’s also true that having Batman and Robin as co-leads, in a series leaning into horror villains and tone like a superhero PG-13 version of It, feels like a potentially winning combination. This approach still mostly relies on the adults and teenagers to do the heavy box office lifting, however, and so it counts a lot more on the Batman brand boosting the odds in an environment that heavily favors children-focused and family-first storytelling in order to do blockbuster business north of $500-600 million. The audience who show up for the other type of Batman movies will show up for this type, too, as long as it’s done as well as viewers expect from a Batman movie.
No need, then, to double-dip in approach and target audience, if a slight adjustment in perspective gains so much more while keeping the viewers you already have anyway.
DC Studios isn’t under pressure to hurry with Brave and the Bold, with both Supergirl (directed by Craig Gillespie and penned by Ana Nogueira) and Clayface releasing this year, and The Batman: Part II and Man of Tomorrow arriving next year. There’s no reason to step on their own toes by moving too fast too soon with another Batman movie. And there’s still a merger on the horizon that could change some plans, although any changes sound more likely to be more leeway to do even more of what DC Studios already has planned, which is a big vote of confidence from WBD and Netflix.