The DCU is moving on without Henry Cavill's Man of Steel, and a younger actor is set to inherit the role in 2025's Superman: Legacy. It's recently been reported that DC Studios' Kal-El will likely be around 25 years old, and James Gunn revealed more details about this iteration of the hero during a recent Q&A.
"He's working. He's a reporter. He's at the Daily Planet," Gunn, who is DC Studios' co-CEO and the movie's writer, confirmed. "Again, we're coming into a world where superheroes exist and have existed."
"So, does that mean Batman might be a couple years older than Superman? Yes, it could be."
That makes perfect sense, especially as The Brave and the Bold will see the Dark Knight meet his son, Damian Wayne, for presumably the first time. When that character was introduced in the comic books, he was 10, so this Batman will need to be at least in his late 20s, if not mid to late 30s.
After all, the movie will feature other members of the Bat-Family, so if the likes of Nightwing and Batgirl are going to appear, Batman will need to have been a superhero for upwards of a decade.
DC Studios is taking an interesting approach to the DCU as they're throwing us into a world that already has superheroes rather than starting from scratch. This is in contrast to the MCU which, after introducing Iron Man, then started adding new characters to its movies until we ended up with the massive franchise it is today.
In other Superman: Legacy news, it's worth pointing out that The Hollywood Reporter is the latest outlet to suggest Gunn will helm the movie as well as writing it. "He wrote the first series out of the gate, the animated Creature Commandos," the trade notes, "and is writing Superman: Legacy, which he’ll likely direct."
Superman: Legacy is set to soar into theaters on July 11, 2025.