During James Gunn’s “Gods and Monsters” slate announcement video, he revealed that fans would be introduced to the new DCU Batman in the film, “The Brave and the Bold”. Gunn clarified that this would be an entirely new actor playing a more experienced Batman and would be separate from both Robert Pattinson and Ben Affleck.
Story
Not only would we be introduced to the new Batman but we would see the first live-action iteration of Damian Wayne as Robin. James Gunn described that Damian Wayne is his favorite Robin and is “a little murderer and assassin.” The story will follow Batman meeting his actual son, Damian Wayne, after “he didn’t know existed for the first eight to ten years of his life.”
The movie will be heavily inspired by Grant Morrison’s run on Batman. It is safe to assume that they will also take inspiration from the DC Animated Universe movies which were focused on the Batman and Damian Wayne dynamic and also took inspiration from Morrison’s run. Some of the specific movies they could pull from are “Son of Batman” and “Batman vs. Robin” which did a fantastic job of adapting the characters and storylines.
In case you were worried that they would be adapting Damian Wayne as the first Robin, Peter Safran teased this would not be the case. He stated in interviews,
“This is 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.”
Peter Safran
This tease can basically confirm that fan favorite Dick Grayson/Nightwing could cameo (being the first Robin) similar to “Son of Batman”. Given how long fans have been begging for this character to be on the big screen, bringing him into this film would finally satisfy fan requests. While Nightwing is the most highly requested, Safran’s statement could be also teasing bringing in possibly already established characters like Alfred and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl.
Directing
Gunn stated the following about bringing in Ben Affleck in terms of the development of the DCU,
“We’re working with Ben Affleck, who has been a part of our team trying to bring things together and he really wants to direct one of our projects. We’re excited for him to do that.”
James Gunn
We think he should get his chance to direct “The Brave and the Bold” as he was originally supposed to direct and star in his own solo Batman film, however that never came to fruition.
Casting
As for casting, the actors to portray are unknown at this time but here are our fancasts for both Bruce Wayne/Batman and Damian Wayne/Robin.
Considering they are going for a more experienced Batman our top fancast is Jensen Ackles. Ackles not only looks the part but certainly would bring some experienced acting chops to the character. Jensen has already portrayed the character in animation for “Batman: The Long Halloween” but we think he would translate perfectly to live-action.
For Damian Wayne, our top pick is Aidan Gallagher. Gallagher has been the leading fancast for years after his standout performance as Number Five in “The Umbrella Academy” and would easily do the character justice.
Conclusion
We are more than excited to see James Gunn’s and Peter Safran’s new adaptation of Batman and his bloodlusted son, Damian Wayne, arrive to the big screen screen and begin to build out the Bat-Family in the larger DCU.