James Gunn and Peter Safran appear to confirm that Robert Pattinson won’t play Batman in the DC Universe movie, The Brave And The Bold.
Robert Pattinson is set to reprise his role as the Caped Crusader in writer-director Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II, but don’t expect to see him elsewhere in the DC Universe. That’s according to James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-heads of DC Studios, who are in the process of introducing a whole new slate of comic book movies beginning with this summer’s Superman.
Gunn and Safran fielded questions about the studio’s upcoming movies at a recent press event, and according to Screen Rant, were asked about Pattinson’s role in the DCU. Gunn replied, simply, “It’s certainly not the plan.”
The Brave And The Bold is among the forthcoming movies planned, which Gunn has previously described as a “strange father and son story” about Batman and Robin. The Flash’s Andy Muschietti has been attached as director for a while, and still appears to be, despite that earlier superhero film’s gloomy box office performance. One thing clear in Peter Safran’s mind, however, is that it won’t be Safran playing Batman.
“We love him,” Saftan said of Pattinson, “but we’ve got to introduce a Batman into the DCU. It’s imperative. That’s the plan for The Brave And The Bold.”
Pattinson made his debut as Bruce Wayne in 2022’s The Batman, an almost three-hour epic akin to a 1970s gangster thriller. That gritty tone was continued to similar acclaim with HBO’s The Penguin, which aired in 2024. Reeves has taken rather a long time to get The Batman Part II going, though – so much so that Gunn began to insist last November that the sequel hadn’t been quietly axed.
Of that sequel, Safran said at the DC Studios event that he’s “looking forward to this film as much as you are,” but heavily implied that it’s still in the early writing stages: “He [Reeves] hasn’t turned in a script, but what we’ve read so far is very encouraging.”
As for The Brave And The Bold, Safran said that “the story’s also coming together very nicely,” adding, “we’ll have more on that for you very soon.”
Including, presumably, who will play its incarnation of Batman. As the DCU continues to take shape, Reeves’ own Batman saga is beginning to look increasingly isolated from Gunn and Safran’s own plans.
Superman is due for release on the 11th July 2025.
