DC Studios co-chief James Gunn stirred up buzz among comic book movie fans when he recently said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that he’s “contemplated” bringing Robert Pattinson‘s Batman into the new DC Universe. Pattinson debuted as the Dark Knight in 2022’s “The Batman.” Gunn’s DC Universe kicked off last month with the animated series “Creature Commandos,” although many are viewing his “Superman” film as the official launch pad this July. Pattinson’s Batman exists outside the DC Universe. At least for now.
“I’ve contemplated it, yeah,” Gunn said when asked about formally bringing Pattinson’s Batman into the DC Universe, although the director clarified: “I contemplate everything. I talk about everything.”
Gunn stressed at the time that he is “committed to both telling stories in the DCU and Elseworlds stories,” the latter of which refers to standalone stories such as “The Batman” that exist outside of the DCU. “I want the freedom to tell Elseworld stories.”
Popular on Variety
What does “The Batman” director Matt Reeves think about having his star make the jump into Gunn’s DCU? The filmmaker recently spoke to “Happy Sad Confused” about the topic at the Golden Globes.
“It really comes down to whether it makes sense,” Reeves said. “There was a story I wanted to tell. The epic crime saga. It’s been important to me to play that out and James and Peter have been really great about that. They are letting us do that. What the future brings, I can’t really tell you. I have no idea. My head is down right now on getting ‘The Batman Part II’ shooting, which is the most important thing.”
“And if they decide we really want Rob to be our DCU Batman?” Horowitz asked as a follow-up question.
“I don’t know,” Reeves responded. “We will have to see where that goes.”
“The Batman Part II” is expected to go into production this year. Warner Bros. announced last month the movie’s release date was being delayed from Oct. 2, 2026 to Oct. 1, 2027. Gunn then defended the pushback, explaining to fans on Threads that it’s “fairly common” for big-budget titles to have lengthy gaps before a sequel is released.
“To be fair, a 5 year gap or more is fairly common in sequels,” Gunn wrote. “7 years between ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens.’ 14 years between ‘Incredibles.’ 7 years between the first two ‘Terminators.’ 13 years between ‘Avatars.’ 36 years between ‘Top Guns.’ And, of course, 6 years between ‘Guardians Vol 2’ and ‘Vol 3.’”
Gunn had posted earlier on Threads to explain that “The Batman Part II” release date was pushed because a “full script” had yet to be completed. Gunn has made it a rule at DC Studios that no film start production until the script is fully complete.
“Matt [Reeves] is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write,” Gunn wrote. “Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films.”
While “The Batman Part II” will not be part of the DCU, it is still being developed under Gunn’s DC Studios banner.