Warner Bros. Could Benefit From Integrating Robert Pattinson's THE BATMAN Universe Into The DCU — Here's How

Warner Bros. Could Benefit From Integrating Robert Pattinson's THE BATMAN Universe Into The DCU — Here's How

Warner Bros. could give the DCU a leg up by integrating Matt Reeves' The Batman universe into James Gunn and Peter Safran's franchise. Here's why.

Editorial Opinion
By DanielKlissmman - Jun 06, 2025 01:06 PM EST
Filed Under: The Batman

As the DCU takes shape, one pressing question has loomed over it for some time: Will Robert Pattinson's Batman be integrated into the universe? At first glance, the idea seems impossible. After all, in DC Studios' 2023 slate reveal, James Gunn announced Brave and the Bold, a DCU-set film about Batman and Damian Wayne. Yet, reports, rumors and speculation have persisted about DC Studios at least considering making Matt Reeves' universe part of the nascent franchise. 

Then, in 2024, the speculation gained traction when Gunn, during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, stated that he had, in fact, considered folding The Batman series into the DCU. However, he still downplayed the possibility, stating: 

"I've contemplated it, yeah. I contemplate everything and talk about everything."

The statement somewhat put the rumors to rest, since it appeared he merely played around with the idea, as opposed to seriously discussing it. It also helped that there were conflicting rumors about the situation. However, in January 2025, something happened. Happy Sad Confused podcast host Josh Horowitz asked Matt Reeves what would happen if DC Studios decided it wanted Pattinson as its Batman. Reeves replied:

"I don't know. We'll have to see where that goes."

Opinions around the internet are largely split on the matter. Some believe the DCU should get its own Batman; others, that Pattinson is a good fit for Peter Safran and James Gunn's universe. Though either scenario is enticing, ultimately, the DCU could benefit a great deal from making Robert Pattinson its Caped Crusader.

Building Out The World

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Once a seemingly hot commodity in Hollywood, it could be argued that shared cinematic universes are somewhat fading into obscurity. Aside from the MCU — and perhaps The Conjuring series — it appears audiences are not that interested in shared worlds as much as they once were. All of that to say, the DCU has an uphill battle to get the general public hooked on a brand-new shared franchise with a long road to pave for itself. 

It should go without saying, but creating a cinematic universe is a painstaking process. A studio has to deliver projects not meant to be a taste of what's to come, but worthwile stories capable of drawing audiences in, regardless of their affiliattion to other properties. That's where the DCU could use some help. In the next two years, the franchise will have a siginifcant number of projects under its belt. By 2027, it will be comprised of Creature Commandos, Superman, Peacemaker 2, Supergirl, Lanterns and Clayface.

It will be an impressive slate, but nonetheless, the franchise will remain in need of other pivotal projects — mainly ones centered around central DC characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman and the Flash. Fortunately, The Batman could fill one of those spaces. If it were to make The Batman franchise retroactively canon to its larger storyline, the DCU would have a significant portion of its worldbuilding done.

The Batman already laid the groundwork for a rich and layered Gotham City. With that, Gotham would be established; most importantly, so would Bruce Wayne, coupled with an intriguing backstory for his parents, ripe for promising storylines for the DCU. The foundation laid by the franchise is a strong one, as it's filled with smart creative choices that have so far, for the most part, heightened the Batman mythology. 

Furthermore, looking at it from a reception standpoint, The Batman was successful financially (over $772 million worldwide) and critically (85% Rotten Tomatoes score). If it were to add the film and its spinoff, The Penguin, to its growing slate, the DCU would be adding an all-around successful property to its legacy, which could, in turn (to a point), strengthen its public perception.

Now, general audiences are largely unfamiliar with the ins and outs of cinematic universes, that is true. But, association with a proven brand has generally been theorized to be linked with a higher likelihood of financial success, particularly in the MCU — an assumption supported by the healthy financial outcomes of projects like 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, 2015's Ant-Man and 2019's Captain Marvel. Given its success, The Batman could provide the DCU with such a boost. 

Aside from that, there is one more important advantage The Batman could offer the DCU. 

The Iron Man Effect

One might think, "'The Batman' is too gritty; too realistic. It would never mesh well with the fantastical world James Gunn is crafting." 

However, that's a big point in favor of merging the two franchises. Folding The Batman into the DCU could mirror a tonal situation that Marvel Studios experienced with its first MCU installment: 2008's Iron Man. Tony Stark's standalone adventure was firmly planted in reality. Yes, the story was centered around incredibly advanced technology, but it was set in our world.

Given its realism, it was difficult at the time to imagine Tony Stark sharing the screen with characters like Thor, Hulk or even Captain America. It simply seemed like meshing together such different tones and styles for The Avengers would be impossible. Ultimately, though, that's part of what made the 2012 feature so exciting: The tonal differences between Earth's Mightiest Heroes made the character interactions feel special.

The Batman's grounded tone could have a similar effect on the DCU. Of course, it's somewhat challenging to picture Robert Pattinson's gritty, moody and realistic Batman in the same universe as David Corenswet's Superman, the Creature Commandos and, to an extent, Peacemaker. But at the same time, those tonal differences are typically present in the comics. And when the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel come together for an adventure, their disparate styles immediately fade away, and the only focus is the two of them, working to save the world together. 

So, will The Batman be merged into the DCU? It's unclear, and to be honest, it's looking more uncertain every passing day. But it could still be a possibility (as small as it may be), one that Warner Bros. should consider bringing to fruition, because it would give the DCU a boost as it establishes itself as a worthwhile storytelling vehicle for the DC Universe.

The Batman is scheduled to release on October 1, 2027. 

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MR
MR - 6/6/2025, 1:05 PM
What’s the point of this “article” if no one has even seen Superman yet?
TheJester187
TheJester187 - 6/6/2025, 1:54 PM
@MR - Exactly these shit ass writers on here have nothing else better to do and start rumors no one wants.
MR
MR - 6/6/2025, 3:11 PM
@TheJester187 - Well I didn't even bother to read the thing. But they got my $$ google clicks. It's the whole point right? Write up some sensational nonsense and let the readers click away. It's probably best to go to Variety for actual news.
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 6/6/2025, 1:07 PM
It's not happening; give it up and move on.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 5:51 PM
@TheJok3r - Be nice to Mr Reeves would you? Guys going through something or something.
Lisa89
Lisa89 - 6/6/2025, 1:11 PM
This decision shouldn't be made by ANYONE who hasn't seen 'Superman (2025)'. The two worlds could be completely incompatible. I mean, can you image fart and dick jokes in 'The Batman' Part II?
Blergh
Blergh - 6/6/2025, 1:20 PM
@Lisa89 - depends on who makes them. If it’s Oz I could totally see it.

Also, no universe needs to be perfectly aligned in style and tone. Our world isn’t either. You can travel from west to east and find cultures other different lines to cross, different humor to acclimate to and vastly different types of respect among each other
ComicBookPsycho
ComicBookPsycho - 6/6/2025, 1:41 PM
@Lisa89 - I mean we already have a (probably R rated) Clayface horror movie in the works.
krayzeman
krayzeman - 6/6/2025, 2:00 PM
@Blergh - i need for you to say this louder for all those "tone freaks" that didnt hear you in the back
Lisa89
Lisa89 - 6/6/2025, 2:13 PM
@Blergh - I appreciate you keeping it realistic and not suggesting that 'Superman (2025)' won't have any dick and fart jokes in it.
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 6/6/2025, 1:27 PM
I love how the preview image is Batman side-eyeing that goofy ass Superman like "Nah, I'm good."
mrpaxx
mrpaxx - 6/6/2025, 1:34 PM
Ah, I see we're at the "bargaining" stage of grief.
ElJefe
ElJefe - 6/6/2025, 1:37 PM
Actually not bad points as far as “merging the worlds” - but I disliked The Batman quite a bit so, I’m good.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 6/6/2025, 1:37 PM
Definitely agree with the Iron Man effect. It's sequel and Thor were only a year apart and couldn't be further apart, yet it was the same universe. Same reason I can see Superman and The Batman work in the same universe (albeit with a time jump)
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 6/6/2025, 1:41 PM
Not reading but for so many reasons, no, it wouldn't work at all esp with the tone and world Gunn appears to be going with for Superman and too late to switch track. Snyder should have tied MoS to the Nolanverse IMO but...
UltimaRex
UltimaRex - 6/6/2025, 1:47 PM
@Apophis71 - Nolan hired Snyder to keep MOS *out* of The TDK Trilogy...
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 6/6/2025, 1:53 PM
@UltimaRex - Maybe so but in that case TDK would have fitted with MoS fairly well, and added to the potential BO for the DCEU too, in this scenario I don't see either being the case. Pattinsons Batman movie was decent enough but not that great either and didn't do well for probably the best known comic book character of all time (tween him, Spider-man and Superman on most lists, order has varied). Penguin's series was far better than the film IMO, but kinda doubled down on the feel that there were no Supes in that world, especialy not one just across the bay from Gotham.

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Forthas
Forthas - 6/6/2025, 4:54 PM
@Apophis71 - Your words are music to my ears (I guess eyes in this case). I have been saying for forever that MOS should have been combined with The Dark Knight and that should have established the blueprint for future DC films going forward. Make no mistake no matter what anyone on this site says...the ONLY reason that those two franchises did not merge is because of Zack Snyder. It is documented by Snyder himself that the studio EXPECTED him to incorporate MOD and TDK but he wanted to go in another direction.
BojoDojo
BojoDojo - 6/6/2025, 1:44 PM
God, it's nonsense articles like this that are the cancer of this site. Just stick to the news.
BIGBMH
BIGBMH - 6/6/2025, 1:45 PM
This is a well-articulated argument, but I respectfully disagree.

"Folding The Batman into the DCU could mirror a tonal situation that Marvel Studios experienced with its first MCU installment: 2008's Iron Man. Tony Stark's standalone adventure was firmly planted in reality."

For starters, I think this overstates how "firmly planted" in reality the movie is. The technology of it brings a sci-fi flare into a world that feels reasonably grounded otherwise, but the overall experience of the film isn't one that's reality-based.

"It simply seemed like meshing together such different tones and styles for The Avengers would be impossible. Ultimately, though, that's part of what made the 2012 feature so exciting: The tonal differences between Earth's Mightiest Heroes made the character interactions feel special."

It really didn't seem impossible though. You're downplaying an important part of how this world was build out.

Iron Man started things out with a technological sci-fi foundation. Incredible Hulk built upon that with a bio-tech sci fi concept in a world that felt pretty similar, so when Tony Stark shows up, it's really quite natural. Iron Man 2 pushed the technology further, taking us a small step into the more fantastical. Thor opens things up in a big way with the most fantastical world building so far, but even that very deliberately frames its magic as "science we don't yet understand." Captain America kind of blended all of that. Biological enhancement, other worldly artifact, technology beyond what exists in our world. That doesn't mean that Avengers was guaranteed to work, it was still a challenge and accomplishment. But the pieces were engineered to fit together.

Reeves did not build his Batman to be in a world occupied by Krypto the Superdog. The world started far more grounded without any building blocks to transition into something more fantasy based. There's also a lack of the incremental expansion of the world. If we were to see Reeves's Gotham get stranger with characters like Man-Bat and Mr. Freeze, perhaps a case could be made. But we haven't been given an indication that he wants to take it there. So the gap between Reeves's Gotham and Gunn's alien, monster, and superhuman filled DCU has not been bridged in a way that makes that melding more sensible.

I really feel like people are only set on Pattinson as the DCU Bruce because they have no conception of what will follow him. It's hard to be excited about a "TBD" so there's a fixation on the present. But prior to Reeves's Batman, there were plenty of people who just wanted to see Affleck's film. Some still do wish that happened, but a good portion of the Batman fanbase moved on once they could see and get excited about what they were moving on to. Give the next Batman that chance to win you over. In 5 years we might all be laughing at the fact that so many of us would've rather not had this new, brilliant, and perfectly suited for the DCU Batman exist because we were hung up on one that worked best by himself.

ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 5:56 PM
@BIGBMH - I think you're underplaying it. Iron Man is not set in a world of gods and monsters and aliens and magic. It's just not.

Also The Batman has advanced sci-fi technology in it too. Things like the camera contact lens is something straight outta the comic books.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 5:57 PM
I mean sure the tone is darker, it has more of an urban crime drama feel to it.

Just like Daredevil does.
TheJester187
TheJester187 - 6/6/2025, 1:53 PM
Man stop with this click bait bs article. It’s not happening. It’s two different tones. Geez ya’ll are trash at writing new articles and theories. Sit the [frick] down. And let it play out. We can have two Batman’s. They put 5 [frick]in spider boys in a movie.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 6:07 PM
@TheJester187 - "We can have two Batmans."

Fans keep saying this and the box office keeps proving them wrong.
Every time DC has introduced a new cinematic universe the old one is discarded.

Aquaman made a billion.
Then Joker made a billion. Consequently the DCEU was discarded.
Every subsequent DCEU movie flopped. Every. Single. One.

Then The Batman came out. A new new universe.
Every subsequent DC movie that wasn't set in the new universe flopped. Every. Single. One. Even the sequel to the Joker.

You can't even have two of the same superhero on the big and small screens. Both Superman Returns and Man of Steel underperformed at a time when Smallville was on TV. The Flash flopped when Grant Gustin's Flash was on TV.

"They put 5 [frick]in spider boys in a movie"

3, but that was a multiverse movie. That is actually different. And it was anchored in the MCU with current Spider-Man Tom Holland meeting his predecessors.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 6/6/2025, 1:55 PM
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Pampero
Pampero - 6/6/2025, 2:05 PM
The DCU will fall apart after Superman.
TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 6/6/2025, 2:11 PM
Why so desperate? Nobody wants or cares about this happening LOL Just let this Supershit fail and we’ll be on to another in no time.
FleischerSupes
FleischerSupes - 6/6/2025, 2:32 PM
I think this could work if Pattinson has the same deadpan delivery he had in The Batman. The contrast would work against the bright cartoonish Superman they're setting up
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 6/6/2025, 3:12 PM
The mere notion that 'there can't be 2 Batmen on the big screen at the same time' is utter nonsense, and the (bad) idea of merging those two comes from that notion.

Why are you entertaining this vapid stupidity ? We all know it's not happening. Move on.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 6:10 PM
@OrgasmicPotatoe - There CAN be. But it's bad for business.

In fact there has been and it has been.
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 6/6/2025, 6:21 PM
@ObserverIO - It wasn't bad for business because there were 2 of them, it was bad for business because the writing particularly [frick]ing sucked on one of them.

But Hollywood likes to take all the wrong lessons out of things, so you may be onto something here...
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 6:33 PM
@OrgasmicPotatoe - The Flash wasn't that poorly written (or were you talking about El Rata Alada?). No Way Home was a much worse script and that movie made 2 billy.

Quality is not that much of a factor for box office success as people might think. It's about keeping the audience. Not [frick]ing alienating them.
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 6/6/2025, 6:45 PM
@ObserverIO - I was talking about WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME ?!, but it largely applies to most of Batfleck's tenure.

At least NWH, while having a poor script, gave the audience what it wanted, and that's mostly why it made so much money. The Batfleck movies can't claim as much.

I keep saying Batfleck, but I don't blame Affleck for it, I think he could have been much better, given stronger material.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 6:50 PM
@OrgasmicPotatoe - In all fairness he has one of the best Batmans and Bruce Waynes. His Bruce Wayne is second only to Clooney imo and his Batman is second only to Keaton.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 6:51 PM
At least, his Batman in BvS.
His Justice League and The Flash Batman... not so much.
Forthas
Forthas - 6/6/2025, 4:56 PM
This would be an epic disaster to bring two tonally different super hero worlds together. It would ruin the much better Batman universe which may be in a sad attempt to save the Superman disaster that is incoming.
MuadDib
MuadDib - 6/6/2025, 5:33 PM
Garbage article about a trash idea revolving around a subpar emo overly grounded take on Batman that can barely hold his own against his very human enemies and would NEVER get anywhere even remotely close to the god level of Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman or GL. Batman should be on their level as a pure human, and that’s only achieved by leaning into the comic book nature and fantasticalness of Batman, not the ground boring take that keeps getting pushed.

We NEED a new better Batman, Pattinson is not it.

Ritchson for the win
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/6/2025, 6:12 PM
@MuadDib - Iron Man could barely hold his own against War Monger and yet beat back Thanos and an army of aliens saving half the universe.
FanCapsticFour
FanCapsticFour - 6/6/2025, 9:15 PM
Well written article!

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