Here’s Exactly What’s Happening With Batman in the DC Universe

Superman may be the first hero out of the gates at DC Studios but everyone wants to know about Batman. Is Robert Pattinson’s Batman going to part of James Gunn’s DC Universe? Is The Brave and the Bold still happening? Is Andy Muschietti still directing that? Could it have Pattinson in it? There are lots and lots of Bat-questions and hopefully, here are some Bat-answers.

When James Gunn and Peter Safran got the keys to DC over two years ago, Warner Bros. had just recently announced a sequel to Matt Reeves’ 2022 hit The Batman. Gunn and Safran planned to let Reeves do his thing, and they’d cast their own Batman in a film called The Brave and the Bold. However, almost three years have passed since Reeves’ Batman sequel was announced and, after multiple delays, it’s still almost three years away. Is DC really going to wait almost five years to make its own Batman movie?

Last week, io9 was at Warner Bros. to talk to Gunn and Safran and they attempted to set the record straight. “We love Matt Reeves’ vision for The Batman Part II and we’re looking forward to this film as much as you are,” Safran said. “He hasn’t yet turned in a script but what we’ve read so far is very encouraging. And on that same front, we’re in very active development on Brave and the Bold. That story is also coming together very nicely. We’ll have more on that for you very soon.”

But what about Pattinson? Is he going to move out of the Reeves universe into the DC Universe? “It’s certainly not the plan,” Gunn said. “And we love him,” Safran added. “But we got to introduce a Batman into the DCU. It’s imperative. And so that’s the plan with Brave and the Bold.” Gunn added that he is personally “very, very actively involved in” the writing of that movie.

Where does that leave Andy Muschietti? The Flash and It director has been attached to The Brave and the Bold for a while and Gunn and Safran said that’s still the case… if he wants to. “We’re developing this script right now and we’re going to show Andy what we have when it’s in a place where we think it’s ready to go and see if it’s a fit,” Safran said.

One thing that is definitely a fit is Clayface. It’s currently scheduled for release in September 2026, and Gunn explained the character had to be in their DC Universe because it wouldn’t fit in Reeves’ world. “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,” Safran said. “He’s very much outside of the sort of grounded, non-super meta-human characters in Matt’s world,” Gunn added.

So there we have it. Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II will be out October 2027. It will not tie into the DC Universe. The Brave and the Bold is still in the works, will have its own Batman, and will be much less grounded than those films. At this rate though, it seems likely it won’t be out until 2028 at the earliest.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.