DC Studios’ rebooted DCU is developing a new Batman project titled The Brave and the Bold, and with everyone wondering who will play the new Caped Crusader in DC’s shared superhero universe, there’s one actor who could be the perfect choice.
Robert Pattinson stars in “The Batman.”
Source: Warner
Batman Casting – Battle For The Cowl
Superman is a blockbuster hit, Supergirl finished filming ahead of release next year, Clayface in production, and Man of Tomorrow starting principal photography in 2026 for a 2027 release, the DCU is quickly filling out its roster of heroes and villains.
But Matt Reeves’ The Batman franchise releases its own Part II next year, and there are plans for at least one more film and some spinoff miniseries. So casting a separate Batman for the DCU has been a touchy subject, as is the question of when he should start making appearances and when The Brave and the Bold should release.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn says the project is still moving forward, the script is closer to where he wants it, but things are “in flux” regarding plans for the timing around previous plans for Batman becoming a father to Damian Wayne, aka Robin.
Do they wait til The Batman franchise completes a trilogy? Should they simply avoid releasing two different Batmen in the same year? There is a lot to consider. Let’s look at some top casting options, and then dive into the one name that just might prove the perfect choice.
My own suggestions and expectations include these four names whom I think could all be in the mix at one point or another or should be – Austin Butler, Jacob Elordi, Dev Patel, Channing Tatum.
Tatum is my personal favorite choice for casting on the older side of the range they’re sort of shooting for. I’ve been perplexed to see him overlooked for casting in big superhero roles time and again throughout the 2000s and can’t help but think this is probably the last shot at getting a guy born to play these roles but overlooked except for the lesser known X-Men character Gambit (I say “lesser known” to the mainstream public, as I know some fans will insist he is a known quantity due to the popular animated series and comics, and his appearance in last year’s blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, but I’m talking about Batman here folks).
Butler would be next on my list. Batman is just the sort of role to attract actors who otherwise prefer dramatic character roles in indie dramas, especially if offered the chance to put a new personal spin on the character. Elordi falls into this category as well. And Patel is actually my top personal pick for James Bond, but he’d be
If the DCU casts a brand new Batman, it’ll probably be someone we haven’t mentioned before, or who flew under the radar. As Gunn himself noted, his Superman casting wound up going to someone who wasn’t at the top of his original casting list.
Best Batman Casting Choice?
But the biggest wild card casting possibility is Robert Pattinson. And it works whether they merge the DCU shared world and The Batman franchise or not.
This could be either as a straight-up merger of the franchise universes; a soft merger where he appears in the DCU in a different costume and larger bat-family, vaguely referencing The Batman events as a decade earlier; or just put Pattinson in a different costume and tweaked supernatural solo series that never mentions The Batman, and say it’s a multiverse, Elseworld is part of it, and this is the DCU version of him.
The latter idea works well. It could be a strong option in the minds of studio heads who think it’s all multiverse and interchangeable, and much of the point of live-action DCU so far in Peacemaker and Superman is about alternate dimensions and portals.
If Clayface’s aesthetic is similar to the Gotham of The Batman, then the shift for audiences is easier when going from one universe to the other. With a different costume (something more comic-faithful like Superman’s and less overtly armored) and framed as later in his career, this might be the least disruptive path and a good way to head off unhelpful comparisons and arguments.
This would make it easier to put DCU Batman in projects while The Batman franchise is still ongoing, and feeds into Gunn’s plan to treat the past as vague unless they use something differently. By avoiding too much specific references, fans who want a different Batman get a different Batman, fans who want a merger get something similar that lets them mentally line it up, and audiences get the best of both worlds without wasting time splitting hairs.
Another advantage to casting Pattinson and retaining connection to The Batman franchise is how it sets up an ideal dynamic between Batman’s world compared to his interactions with the larger DCU. I think Batman works best in a larger DCU shared universe as a value-added element, in cameos and supporting roles, with other primary heroes as the central leads. Batman shouldn’t be leading super-powered teams or confronting alien/superhuman villains the way Superman or Wonder Woman do.
Batman should mostly stick to solo movies in Gotham. Only in occasional crossovers should Batman play the role of a “general” in the field, offering plans to other heroes with more power and leadership. In those team-ups, Batman’s hands-on fighting should be with grounded aspects — fighting hired goons, providing technical assistance like satellites and drones, and breaking into places like secret headquarters to steal info or sabotage them and escape without fighting powerful superhumans. When he does confront a big superhuman threat, Batman should retreat and barely escape.
So I prefer is they keep Batman in a supporting role as an overachieving mortal who brings specific skills, but within a context of being mortal in a super-powered world-destroying fight. The more he’s the “special sauce” with a few big moments, the more impact he’ll have and the less he’ll wear out his welcome in that space.
Batman’s solo movies are where he’s in his element, bringing the weight of his skills and abilities to bear on threats to his city. Using supernatural elements to introduce him to supervillains works to feed into the DCU team-up films, but keeps it the type of supernatural stuff humans have been fighting in horror movies since the beginning of cinema, so it falls within the realm of what Batman is capable of tackling.
I like that by keeping Gotham threats at a grounded level (Joker, Riddler) but adding supernatural threats within the purview of mortal capabilities (vampires, Clayface), it explain why Gotham’s “super-crime” is still the sort of thing that doesn’t require the attention of superhuman heroes like the Justice Gang. They handle inter-dimensional imps and kaiju and aliens, not ghosts and sewer-dwelling lizard-men. Since Gotham doesn’t attract Superman-level “super-crime,” Batman is left to handle it his way.
This all fits perfectly with the idea of Matt Reeves’ The Batman films finishing their own story, and letting Pattinson also play Batman in a continuing fashion in the DCU, all in a way that fits well with what just about everybody wants. It comes down to making sure the stories are the best possible, and in that regard I have faith in the teams involved with The Batman and the DCU.
Be it Pattinson or someone else, the points about Batman’s role in the DCU remain true. So whomever winds up donning the cowl for the DCU’s Batman, it sounds like we are headed for a new perspective and approach to the Caped Crusader’s cinematic adventures, with more supernatural and horror stories.