After last year’s The Flash featured both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton’s versions of Batman (along with George Clooney in a surprising cameo), we’re about to enter an era where there will be two live-action takes on the Caped Crusader existing in separate realities. In one corner, we have Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne, who debuted in 2022’s The Batman and resides within the shared universe called the “Batman Epic Crime Saga.” In another corner, Gotham City’s protector will also exist within the new DC Universe franchise and make his debut in The Brave and the Bold. However, it might take a while for this upcoming DC movie to get produced, and while DC Studios co-head James Gunn has explained why this is, as a Batman fan, I feel conflicted about it.
Batman fans needn’t worry about not knowing when Robert Pattinson will put on the cape and cowl next, as The Batman: Part II is set for late 2026. But as far as The Brave and the Bold goes, Gunn, who is co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios with Peter Safran, informed Collider that they don’t feel the need to rush introducing the DCU’s Batman because it’s important to make sure that the story is worth telling first. As he explained:
There’s no set timeline for anything. The one thing that I’ve tried to make clear to people from the beginning, in the way that I hope we're different, is that everything in DC is going to be based on the writers. Until we have a screenplay that I’m totally happy with, that movie is not going to get made , no matter what it is. So, we have been really fortunate with some screenplays. You know, 'Supergirl' came in and just, wow Ana [Nogueria] did such an amazing job, the 'Lanterns' pilot came in, and now the whole 'Lanterns' series came in, and it's like 'Wow that's wonderful, wonderful work.' And there's a couple of other things that people don't know about, a couple of movies and TV shows that are greenlit or near greenlit. But it's going to be based always on that, on the story, because at the end of the day if we're happy with the story that we're telling, that's what matters most. And once 'The Brave and the Bold' gets to that point, then we'll make the movie.
On the one hand, I completely agree that storytelling should be prioritized above all else. Too often we’ve seen superhero movies be given a release date even though the script haven’t been written or a story hasn’t even been figured out. That leads to the filmmaking process being rushed in order to meet the studio-mandated date, and more often than not, this results in a subpar product. James Gunn doesn’t want that to happen to The Brave and the Bold or any other DC Universe project, so it won’t be until a finalized script is approve of until things get rolling, and I respect that.
However, I am a tad disappointed that it could be many years until The Brave and the Bold is released, because I like the general premise. When the DC Universe was announced in early 2023, James Gunn and Peter Safran shared that this franchise’s Batman movie will follow Bruce Wayne teaming up with his son Damian, who will be Robin.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed what’s been presented in the Batman Epic Crime Saga so far during The Batman and The Penguin (which can be streamed in its entirety with a Max subscription), but The Brave and the Bold is offering something new by highlighting this father/son dynamic, and I’m eager to see how it will look. Plus, because The Brave and the Bold is set in a world already filled with superheroes and metahumans, that means it can lean into the fantastical elements that Pattinson’s Batman movies cant’t.
The only other major detail that’s been shared about The Brave and the Bold is that The Flash’s Andy Muschietti will direct it, but as soon as more major updates come in, including when it will be released, we’ll let you know. For now, the DC Universe will kick off next month with the release of the animated series Creature Commandos on Max, then Superman will debut in theaters July 11 on the 2025 movies schedule.
