The revamped DC Universe has finally made its theatrical debut with Superman, starring David Corenswet, releasing to majorly positive reviews and setting a new box office record for live-action Supes films. But amid the Man of Steel’s return, fans couldn’t help but wonder when his foil, Batman, would get his own movie set in the DCU. Some people automatically assumed that Robert Pattinson’s Batman and Coren-Supes are destined to share the big screen down the line in the new DCU, but it’s not that simple.
See, there are currently two Batman projects lurking about the Warner Bros. corridors: The Batman Part 2 and a Batman film tentatively titled The Brave and the Bold, with the latter revealed back in 2023 during a DC Studios announcement.
At the time, Gunn offered a brief synopsis about the film, calling the movie the “introduction of the DCU’s Batman” in its Marvel Cinematic Universe-like phase, titled Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters.
“The Brave and the Bold is the story of Batman and his actual son, Damian Wayne,” explained Gunn. “This is based on Grant Morrison’s great comic book run. Damian Wayne is my favorite Robin; he’s a little assassin that Batman tries to get in line. So, this is the story about the two of them and…the beginning of the Bat Family in the DCU.”
More recently, Gunn provided an update about The Brave and the Bold, telling GamesRadar, “We’re working on a script. We have a screenwriter who’s hammering away at it. I’m very involved, and so we’ll see what happens next. I wish I had more news for you, but I don’t.”
The Flash Director Andy Muschietti has been attached to direct the movie, but admitted back in January that he and Gunn hadn’t talked about the project since before Superman began filming in June 2024.
“I’ve had conversations with James Gunn about the story concept, but we haven’t talked since before Superman began filming,” Muschietti told Radio TU.
The only other update at this time regarding The Brave and the Bold is that James Gunn is working closely with the film’s writer to “[try] and get it right,” while telling Rolling Stone that the movie’s title is safe for the time being.
Elsewhere in the Batman live-action economy, writer and director Matt Reeves previously shared news that the script for The Batman: Part 2 has finally been completed, moving forward with the second installment in the Patts-Man franchise, separate from the ambitious cinematic goals kicked off by Superman.
Reeves’ The Batman is its own standalone trilogy (or Crime Saga, as numerous DC execs have labeled it) and exists outside of the newly established DCU (e.g. 2019’s Joker). The Batman‘s sole connection is to the critically acclaimed HBO series, The Penguin, which, again, exists outside the DCU.
When Tom Rhys Harries was cast as the lead in DCU’s Clayface, Gunn and Peter Safran, DC Studios co-CEO, attempted to clear any confusion regarding where each upcoming movie fits into DC Studios’ “bold ten-year plan.”
“Clayface is totally DCU,” said Gunn during the DC Studios Presentation earlier this year, while asserting that The Batman isn’t DCU but “under DC Studios.”
“The only thing that’s in Matt’s world, his Crime Saga that he’s telling, is the Batman Trilogy, the Penguin series, that’s in that lane,” Safran later added. “So still under DC Studios, still under us. We have an incredible relationship with Matt, but those are the only things…It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU. It’s an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world.”
With Superman returning to a more colorful and optimistic theme, it makes sense that fans immediately think of the dark and gloomy Batman and how he would interact with Corenswet’s interpretation of the character. At this time, though, it appears that DCU Batman is years away, and folks will have to wait a bit for that special interaction. But who knows? Something could change in the days and weeks ahead.
As for now, DCU’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is scheduled to hit theaters on June 26, 2026, and Clayface is set for a 2026 release.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part 2 is set to begin filming by the end of this year, with the film scheduled for release on October 1, 2027.
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