A Weary James Gunn Makes It Clear: Robert Pattinson Is Not the DCU Batman

DC Studios co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran met with reporters yesterday for a fascinating, if not contradictory, update on the status of their burgeoning DC Universe that’s set to take flight later this year with Gunn’s Superman. I write these columns either in the dead of night or the crack of dawn, so I’m not going to get into the whole slate. But what Gunn and Safran offered is a refreshingly candid look into how they’re making moves based entirely on the quality of the scripts coming in.

In some cases, those scripts came in faster than they expected leading to fast track productions. (Clayface being one of those examples.) In others, they’ve hit a roadblock. (Don’t hold your breath for The Authority movie.) Naturally, the conversation turned to Batman, and here’s where things got interesting and ominous.

When we last left my obsessive screeching about the state of The Batman Part II, the film saw its production pushed back to late 2025 after Superman drops in theaters. That shift led itself to the increasing chatter that Robert Pattinson’s Batman was on the cusp of being absorbed by the DCU. Not so much!

Not only did Gunn shut down that narrative, but both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter noted that he was visibly annoyed with the topic. Variety said that “Gunn sighed in exasperation” at being asked about Pattinson starring in The Brave and the Bold while THR wrote that he “bristled at the word ‘sharing’ the actor with Reeves.”

Turns out, Gunn is growing weary of seeing every stray thought he has turning into a headline — Hi, hello — but that’s the nature of the beast. It also doesn’t help that he and Safran just gave a number of eyebrow-raising remarks on all things Batman. For starters, Gunn is very focused on The Brave and the Bold. For those of you with active sex lives, that will be the first official Batman movie for the DCU. At the moment, Andy Muschietti is still attached to direct, but maybe not for long?

Via THR:

The filmmaker behind The Flash and It movies seems to be at arms length from the project.

“We’re developing the Brave and Bold script right now and he’ll be the first one to see it,” Safran said, referring to Muschietti while also strongly implying the filmmaker is not involved in the project’s development.

Gunn went so far as to say he was now the driving force of the title. “Everybody knows I love Batman and it’s important to me so I’m working very closely with the writer on Brave and the Bold,” he said. The writer’s name was not revealed.

As for the state of The Batman: Part II, would you believe we’re right back to “Not great, Bob!” When asked about the film, here’s what Safran said about Matt Reeves’ progress (emphasis mine): “He is yet to turn in a full script but what we have read so far is incredibly encouraging.”

OK. Well, surely, things are white hot on The Penguin Season 2 front after a critically acclaimed reception that’s sweeping the awards circuit: “We don’t know. There are a lot of moving pieces, probably most importantly Colin himself. And 800 pounds of makeup.”

Wow, goddammit. And just to reinforce that Safran is being extremely candid, here’s what Colin Farrell told Variety about Season 2 moments after winning a SAG Award for The Penguin.

“I have no deep desire to do it,” he said. “Sure, if they think of something that works in conjunction as a parallel to Matt Reeves’ cinematic universe and it’s a good idea, I’m open to it. But it’s not something concerning me.”

So, James Gunn is full steam ahead on a new DCU Batman, there’s still no The Batman: Part II script, and the actor for the surprising smash hit spinoff that’s keeping interest in that universe alive doesn’t want to be buried under makeup again. Gonna go ahead and turn the dial back to “RIP Robert Battinson.”