Since the first chapter of the DCU was announced, fans expected The Brave and the Bold to arrive in five years or less, giving us our first look at the DCU Batman, but the slow release of The Batman: Part II has left us without an update. In the recent DC Studios Showcase, one-off podcast, “The Suicide Squad ‘Is It Canon?'”, James Gunn clarified what is and what is not canon to the DCU from the 2021 movie, including what to expect from the actor playing the DCU Batman.
Since the official first project in the DCU, Creature Commandos, we have gotten multiple teasers of Batman, and prior to the release of Clayface (2026), we got lots of rumours about the Caped Crusader’s appearance. Shutting down all rumours about the potential casting, James Gunn made it clear: “It’s all bullshit,” stating, “It won’t be too long before we’re casting Batman.”
“All the people thinking he’s gonna show up in this or that, it’s all bullshit. But when we do cast the DCU Batman, which isn’t very far away, if I gave somebody a day role in Suicide Squad, that’s gonna be the best Batman; I’m not gonna rule him out from that. I want to get everybody into account.” – James Gunn.
James Gunn made it clear one attribute he is looking for is to pick the best actor for the role, the same way “Supermans have always been chosen based on who the best actor for that role is, and for some reason Batmans are always chosen as movie stars.”
When asked about taking age into account, Gunn replied, “Definitely; that’s a huge thing. People are always looking for little hints about casting of Batman. Roughly, Batman and Superman are around the same age. I don’t think that they’re drastically different ages. They’re future best pals, contemporaries.”
The DCU actor playing Superman, David Corenswet, is 33, and if you are pro-merger and want Robert Pattinson to play the DCU Batman, you are out of luck, as he is 40.