With all the changes being made at DC, the proverbial door of fan speculation has been left wide open. James Gunn — now very much in charge of the DCU’s narrative future — certainly has a lot of work to do. With his surprise slate announcement earlier this year, Gunn detailed DC’s cinematic future while also introducing a handful of incredible new properties.
One of these new reimaginings was none other than the Caped Crusader himself, Batman. There’s only one problem — DC already has a Batman. Well, sort of. James Gunn has been clear that the Matt Reeves Batman will exist entirely in his own universe/storyline, meaning that Robert Pattinson won’t get to play alongside whoever else is coming to DC’s silver screen.
Still, that fact hasn’t stopped fans on Reddit from speculating whether or not Robert Pattinson could simply play both Batmen at the same time. Talk about a heavy workload.
We do love this question, and we definitely love Robert Pattinson. Having him play both versions of Batman might be wishful thinking, but more than that, it could be confusing.
To have the same actor playing two different Bat-people would be strange, there’s no doubting that. Plus, it’s safe to assume that whatever Gunn has been dreaming up for Batman is going to be a lot different from whatever Matt Reeves has in store.
It’s true that studios, fans, and the internet at large needs to give people a little credit. Following storylines has never been that big of an issue, most people off the street either don’t care or can pick things up pretty quickly if need be — at the end of the day, aren’t we all just here to enjoy Batman?
Now this comment definitely has legs. The Reeves Batman is only in his second year of donning the cape and cowl, for him to be cast in the Gunn version only to portray a seasoned detective wrangling a headstrong pre-teen might be a bit out of pocket. Heck, probably more than a bit.
James Gunn is headed in the Batman: The Brave and The Bold route, which on just about every level comes in direct contrast to The Batman. The art direction, acting, and story is going to be so different tonally that these two Bat-people could never exist in the same universe to begin with. So with that in mind, it’s best to just keep them separate.
Oh, and Robert Pattinson probably wouldn’t have time
This could arguably be the biggest factor. Pattinson is a world-renowned actor. Everybody wants this guy in their movie. The thought that he’s going to drop everything for the massive time suck that would be playing two different versions of Batman doesn’t make sense at all. More confusing than the continuity itself, there’s no way that’s going to happen.
In the end we can dream, but what looks to be most likely is an entirely new face under that iconic black mask. Which, honestly, will be pretty cool. Who the heck can complain? We get more Batman.
