The Brave and the Bold was announced at the start of 2023 when DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled an ambitious "Chapter 1 - Gods and Monsters" slate of films and TV shows.
The studio turned to The Flash director Andy Muschietti to helm what would essentially be an adaptation of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's Batman and Robin, an acclaimed comic book run pairing Bruce Wayne up with the 10-year-old son he never knew he had, Damian.
The movie has since failed to take shape, which is unfortunate when Matt Reeves' The Batman Part II has been similarly delayed. Amid continued rumours of personal issues, the filmmaker is seemingly struggling to finish the screenplay for his long-awaited sequel.
Talking to Rolling Stone, Gunn broke his silence on the challenge of bringing the Caped Crusader back to the big screen. "Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now, personally," the Superman director admitted. "And it’s not — I’m not writing Batman, but I am working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman."
"So outside of the stuff that I’m doing in the projects that are actively going, our two priorities are finishing our Wonder Woman and our Batman scripts," Gunn confirmed, saying that the movie is still titled The Brave and the Bold "right now."
"Batman has to have a reason for existing, right? So Batman can’t just be 'Oh, we’re making a Batman movie because Batman’s the biggest character in all of Warner Bros.,' which he is," he continued. "But because there’s a need for him in the DCU and a need that he’s not exactly the same as Matt’s Batman."
"But yet he’s not a campy Batman. I’m not interested in that. I’m not interested in a funny, campy Batman, really," Gunn added, much to the relief of fans worried the DCU's Dark Knight would be the tonal opposite of Reeves' vision for Gotham City. "So we’re dealing with that. I think I have a way in, by the way. I think I really know what it’s — I just am dealing with the writer to make sure that we can make it a reality."
"People love [Batman] because he’s interesting, but also having so much of him out there can also make him boring. So how do you create that property that’s fun to watch?"
Gunn revealed that Warner Bros. first approached him about directing a Batman movie in 2018 before talk turned to whether Robert Pattinson's version of the character could be folded into the DCU. Many fans want it to happen, but Gunn continued to mostly hedge his bets on that front.
"It would be a consideration. We’d have to think about it. We’d have to think about it. It is not like we’ve never discussed it," he mused. "I would never say zero [chance], because you just never know. But it’s not likely. It’s not likely at all."
"I’ll also say Batman Part II is not canceled. That’s the other thing I hear all the time — that Batman Part II is canceled. It’s not canceled," Gunn reiterated. "We don’t have a script. Matt’s slow. Let him take his time. Let him do what he’s doing. God, people are mean. Let him do his thing, man."
It appears DC Studios is struggling to figure out an approach to Batman that isn't just more of the same. While doing that, Gunn is waiting on Reeves to finish The Batman Part II's script, an "Elseworlds" tale he could probably live without. As it stands, having two versions of Batman in theaters at the same time stands a good chance of confusing audiences.
The sequel is likely more of a priority for Warner Bros. than DC Studios. Still, short of Reeves walking away from the project entirely, it sounds like The Batman Part II will happen...eventually.
Another issue with Robert Pattinson joining the DCU is that it seems highly doubtful he'd be willing to commit to a decade-long stint as Batman, especially if it requires him to appear in multiple DC franchises on a near-yearly basis. For now, we'll have to wait and see what happens.