We already know David Corenswet is our new Superman, but who is DC’s new Batman? You know, the new, new Batman. Because Robert Pattinson is the old new Batman… Whatever. The point is someone has already thrown their name into the hat, and the fans are all for it.
Reacher star Alan Ritchson is swirling as a prime contender for the part of the rebooted DCU’s Dark Knight, thanks to DC superfan and filmmaker Kevin Smith recently shouting him out as a great choice (he called Jack Reacher “Batman without a cape”). In an interview with Fortress of Solitude, Ritchson admitted that of course he would jump at the chance to be Bruce Wayne.
“With all the rumors flying that I’m supposed to be playing Batman, how can I knock Batman?” the actor said. “I would love to play Batman.”
Obviously, this is far, far from a confirmation that he’s in the running to take the lead in Andy Muschietti’s The Brave and the Bold movie, but the mere possibility of Ritchson becoming Batman does remind us that DCU chief James Gunn is already well on his way to beating Marvel at its own game.
James Gunn’s DCU has the opportunity to use DC history to immediately match the MCU
The entertaining thing about the notion of Ritchson playing Batman is that he already has two other DC heroes under his belt. First, he recurred on Smallville as Aquaman and then he portrayed Hawk on Titans. Remember, fellow Aquaman Jason Momoa is widely believed to be surviving the imminent implosion of the DCEU by taking on a new role. Most likely as Lobo. So Gunn is could already be establishing that it’s completely possible for old DC heroes to come back as fresh characters.
In that way, then, Gunn is smartly using the amount of times the DC screen universe has been rebooted as a strength and not a bug, and in doing so he could get one over on new fierce rivals, Marvel Studios. The MCU is now in the thick of its Multiverse Saga, but it took a full 12 years to get to the place where it could bring back old faces as their own variants as the franchise had to establish a thick backlog of lore first.
DC, meanwhile, immediately has a near-endless pool of DC legacy stars for Gunn to choose from for his casts. This would establish that all DC takes place in the same multiverse from the off, cementing the notion that the same faces recur throughout reality. Why does Lobo look like one King of Atlantis and Batman looks like another? Because multiverse.
Gunn isn’t looking for his DCU to directly share continuity with anything that’s gone before, and that’s A-OK, but the filmmaker has a fascinating opportunity to tie the different dimensions of DC together with his casting choices. And do in just a few movies what took the MCU over a decade to achieve.