A new actor shall don the Batsuit.
As relayed by Screen Rant, DC Studio co-lead James Gunn has revealed the name and concept of Batman’s introductory movie into the DCU; it’s to be called The Brave and the Bold and will focus on Batman battling crime with his son, Robin.
This Batman will not be the same as the one Robert Pattinson played in the superhero’s most recent film adaptation, 2022’s The Batman. He’ll instead be a new Batman (played by a new actor) that will be part of the DCU, the interconnected universe which most future DC projects will be a part of. As Gunn explains in the video below, the DCU will tell a large overarching story, and all of its smaller stories must fit cohesively within it.
Cohesion is seemingly a particularly important aspect for Gunn, as he marks the necessity of the universe being “connected,” not just in film and TV, but even in video games. Furthermore, he wants his characters to be consistent between all forms of media, meaning they will be the same versions of said characters and shall be played by the same actors, even in animated content.
Gunn stated that The Brave and the Bold is based on author Grant Morrison’s run of the Batman comic book, which introduced the character of Damian Wayne. Damian will be this universe’s Robin, who Screen Rant explains was trained to be an assassin. The movie will see Batman discovering that he even had a son, taking him under his wing, and trying to “get [him] in line,” as stated by Gunn.
Gunn further calls the movie “the beginning of the Bat-family in the DCU,” and he confirmed to Screen Rant that other members of the Bat-family will appear in the movie, though he didn’t specify which ones. It’s currently unclear when The Brave and the Bold will release, but it’s likely many years away, as, in the outlining video above, Gunn lists numerous projects before this one. Furthermore, no info has been given regarding who will play Batman and Robin.
For those who were big fans of Pattinson’s interpretation of Batman, or the Matt Reeves-directed movie overall, worry not. The Batman has been greenlit for a trilogy, Gunn also confirmed. As unusual as it sounds, The Batman will continue as part of what Gunn calls DC Elseworlds, a space outside the DCU where a select few non-comic book DC projects can exist. This essentially means that two Batmen will co-exist in film, which is an unusual occurrence in modern superhero media and will likely result in some blunt comparisons.
