Batman fans just received a promising update about the Gotham City-based superhero’s forthcoming DC Universe debut from DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn.
In January 2023, DC Studios unveiled ten projects — five movies and five shows — that would be part of the DC Universe’s Chapter One: Gods & Monsters. The Brave and the Bold was among the five movies, with its inclusion revealing to fans that Batman would be a major part of the early DCU days. Andy Muschietti was soon tapped to direct the movie, with an undisclosed screenwriter also coming on board to write the script based on writer Grant Morrison and artist Andy Kubert’s run on DC Comics’ Batman, specifically the story arc where Bruce Wayne learns that he has fathered a son, Damian, with Talia al Ghul.
What did James Gunn reveal about The Brave and the Bold?
In the two years since the DCU slate reveal, Gunn has been light on updates for The Brave and the Bold. However, during a recent interview with Rolling Stone to promote Superman, Gunn offered some major updates on the forthcoming superhero reboot, including that “Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now, personally.”
Gunn also confirmed that he was “not writing Batman,” but is working with “the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman. So outside of the stuff that I’m doing in the projects that are actively going, our two priorities are finishing our Wonder Woman and our Batman scripts.” The DC head also reaffirmed that the movie was still titled The Brave and the Bold.
Gunn also touched on why making a new Batman movie isn’t as big of a slam dunk as some fans might think it would be, noting how the character needs to “have a reason for existing.” He explained, “Batman can’t just be ‘Oh, we’re making a Batman movie because Batman’s the biggest character in all of Warner Bros.,’ which he is. But because there’s a need for him in the DCU and a need that he’s not exactly the same as Matt’s Batman. But yet he’s not a campy Batman. I’m not interested in that. I’m not interested in a funny, campy Batman, really. So we’re dealing with that. I think I have a way in, by the way. I think I really know what it’s — I just am dealing with the writer to make sure that we can make it a reality.”
The DC Studios co-CEO continued, “Every single Batman story has been told. It seems like half the comics that have come out of DC over the past 30 years have Batman in them. He’s the most famous superhero in the world and the most popular superhero in the world. And people love him because he’s interesting, but also having so much of him out there can also make him boring. So how do you create that property that’s fun to watch?”
At this time, no actor has been cast to portray the DCU Batman yet. A release date for The Brave and the Bold has also not been set.
