James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU is growing at a steady clip. In 2026 alone, we’ve seen new movies like Supergirl and Clayface and gotten a deep dive into all things Green Lantern with the Lanterns series. But for many DC fans, there are only two questions that need answering right now. First, is Adria Arjona actually playing Wonder Woman in 2027’s Man of Tomorrow? Second, where the heck is Batman?!?
We can’t help with the first question, but we can tackle the second. The Dark Knight remains elusive despite Clayface taking place in Gotham City. As we explored in our Clayface Ending Explained, don’t expect Batman to put in an appearance in this Batman-adjacent film. So what do we actually know about the DCU version of this iconic hero? Does Batman currently exist in the DCU? Here’s what we know so far.
When Gunn and Safran took charge of the DC brand back in 2023, they inherited a few loose ends from the previous regime. That includes Matt Reeves’ Batman franchise, which kicked off with The Batman in 2022 and continued in The Penguin series in 2024. Many fans wondered if Gunn and Safran would simply fold Robert Pattinson’s Batman into their new DCU, making The Batman the unofficial start of this rebooted universe.
However, Gunn has been pretty clear from the start that this isn’t the plan. When he and Safran revealed the Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters slate in 2023, they confirmed their intention to introduce a new version of the Dark Knight in a movie called Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Progress on that film has been slow in the years since, but it’s still very much in the works.
That means DC is in the slightly awkward position of juggling two simultaneous versions of Batman in live-action. Pattinson will reprise his role in the upcoming The Batman - Part II, which is currently slated for release in February 2028. And Gunn and his collaborators will eventually cast a second actor to play a different Batman in The Brave and the Bold (a film which likely won’t hit theaters before 2029 at the earliest). It remains to be seen if the two versions of the characters will continue to coexist or if The Batman - Part II will end up being the swan song for Reeves’ “The Batman Epic Crime Saga.”
We do expect there to be a fairly stark tonal difference separating these two versions of Batman, at least. The Batman and its follow-ups lean heavily into the darker, grittier, more noir-flavored side of the franchise. Gunn’s Batman, we assume, will be a relatively more family-friendly and comics-inspired take on the character, more akin to how 2025’s Superman handled the Man of Steel. Gunn has previously revealed that The Brave and the Bold is heavily inspired by Grant Morrison’s Batman comics and will introduce Bruce Wayne’s long-lost son Damian.
So far, we’ve established that the DCU has its own version of Batman distinct from the one played by Pattinson. The next key question is simple - where is he? Does Batman already exist in the DCU, or is he still an idea lurking in the depths of Bruce Wayne’s psyche?
By now, we have ample evidence to prove that, yes, Batman does exist and is active in the DCU. To date, the only physical appearance of the Caped Crusader has come in Creature Commandos Season 1, where we briefly see a silhouetted Batman looming on a rooftop. That lone appearance doesn’t tell us much about how old Batman is or what his costume looks like, but it’s a start.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/everything-we-know-dcu-batman-after-clayface-brave-bold
