Batman: The Brave and the Bold director Andy Muschietti shuts down rumors of Battinson joining the DCU, but plans might collide in another way
Too many Batmen, too little time.
New year, new rumors about everything happening right now across a number of cinematic universes. One that's been attracting an especially large amount of attention is DC Studios' rebooted DCU continuity, which is properly kicking off this year with James Gunn's Superman after the animated series Creature Commandos soft-launched it in early December 2024. Of course, everyone is starting to wonder about its Batman and whether DC Studios might just 'recycle' Matt Reeves' critically acclaimed take on the character, but it may be time to let go of that idea.
We'd just reported on Reeves' recent comments on the possibility of his Bruce Wayne and Gotham City becoming a crucial part of the DCU continuity sooner or later. To be honest, it seemed like he was just dodging a question he had no clear answer to from a business perspective, as he's just focused on getting the second movie (out of three planned entries) up and running in 2025. Now, Andy Muschietti, who helmed 2023's ill-fated The Flash and was invited to make the transition to the DCU as director of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, is chiming in.
During the same Radio TU chat where he discussed his not-quite-dead plans for a Shadow of the Colossus adaptation, he was asked about this whole Batman situation of having an extremely successful crime saga shepherded by Matt Reeves on top of a new, less grounded take on the character and his surroundings happening with crossovers and more ambitious universe-building in mind. While some fans and certain voices in the press circles are insisting that's a possibility on the table (Gunn himself confirmed he at least considered it), Muschietti is clearly thinking about his upcoming flick as a separate, entirely different thing.
You can watch the full interview here if you know Spanish, but we've translated the relevant bit below:
As everyone knows, the Batman featured in The Brave and the Bold will belong to the new DC universe. It's quite obvious that Matt Reeves' Batman is not part of this new universe. However, DC and Warner Bros. are moving forward with the second part of Reeves' Batman series, which, as widely reported, is expected to release around 2027.
This means the next Batman movie will take some time before it sees the light of day. Releasing two Batman films simultaneously would be counterproductive. What DC is doing is creating a strategy to ensure these two films don't conflict with each other.
Regarding my involvement in the project, there are good intentions for now. They want to do the movie with me, and I want to do it as well. I'm eager to work on the film.
Honestly, Muschietti sounds baffled here by the thought of mixing two completely different tones. Though Gunn has confirmed we'll be getting a bit of everything from the DCU (and there's already a stark contrast between Creature Commandos and what we've seen of Superman), it seems the intention is to double down on a colorful and openly comic book-y aesthetic for the universe overall. The Batman and The Penguin just aren't that even if they're respectfully working with Batman and Gotham City's myths and icons, and it seems counterproductive to limit the creative possibilities of two different artists (and their teams) just because you're afraid of audiences getting things mixed up as several iterations of Spider-Man are swinging around elsewhere.
He's also right to point out the (business) challenge of releasing The Batman: Part II and Batman: The Brave and the Bold with enough space between each other. While people might be willing to accept another iteration of the character, we've seen in recent times that too much of a good and popular thing can be actually bad. Matt Reeves' second Batman movie is set to arrive on October 1, 2027, after yet another delay, so it could be a long time before we properly meet the DCU's Batman and his allies.