Though we weren't aware of this until very recently, there's been growing online support for Brandon Sklenar to play the Dark Knight in the upcoming DCU The Brave and the Bold Movie, and the fan campaign was recently given a major boost thanks to the actor's It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively sharing her endorsement.
Now, Sklenar has liked and commented on some fan-art depicting him as the Caped Crusader.
Despite speculation that The Batman star Robert Pattinson could end up jumping to the DCU to play the legendary Gotham City vigilante in The Brave and the Bold, director Andy Muschietti confirmed that a new actor will be cast as the hero during a recent interview.
"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," The Flash director continued. "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. We are talking about the story and the tone."
Is there a chance anything will come of Sklenar's campaign? Actors putting themselves forward to play specific characters has paid off in the past, and a lot of people believe that Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge) landed the role of John Stewart in Lanterns due to how frequently he was fan-cast as the hero.
There have been rumors that DC is looking to cast a middle-aged actor as Bruce Wayne, however, so at 34, Sklenar might be a little young.
Even if this does get Sklenar some attention from the studio, it's probably still way too early for anyone to be in serious contention to play the next big-screen Batman.
In addition to It Ends With Us, Sklenar has appeared in Emily the Criminal, The Big Ugly, Midway, and Yellowstone spin-off series, 1923.
"This is the introduction of the DCU's Batman," Gunn said of the movie when the Gods and Monsters slate was announced. "This is the story of Damian Wayne, who is Batman's actual son who we didn't know existed for the first eight to 10 years of his life. He was raised as a little murderer and assassin. He's a little son of a bitch. He's my favorite Robin. It's based on the Grant Morrison comic book's run, which is one of my favorite Batman runs, and we are putting that all together right now."
Peter Safran added, "And this is obviously a feature film, and it's going to feature other members of the extended 'Bat-family', just because we feel like they've been left out of the Batman stories in the theater for far too long."