It may have taken a while, but in recent years, Warner Bros.’ DC Extended Universe really seems to be finding its groove, with the franchise enjoying critical and commercial acclaim on a more frequent basis than ever before. Some of the faces may have changed both in front and behind of the camera, but there’s no denying that the superhero series is in a much stronger position than it was at the height of Zack Snyder’s tenure.
After the failed Justice League experiment, the studio seemed to take stock of their options and designed to let their franchise expand in a more organic way, instead of desperately rushing to their own event-level team-up movie without a proper amount of build-up. Aquaman and Shazam! highlighted the DCEU’s more lighthearted approach, Wonder Woman 1984 is a virtual guarantee to hit a billion dollars, The Suicide Squad has Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn on board, Birds of Prey dives fully into R-rated territory and the world’s biggest movie star is about to join the team in Black Adam. On paper, the future seems pretty rosy for the DCEU.
However, there are reportedly behind-the-scenes disagreements regarding the studio’s undoubted crown jewel. Sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who told us J.J. Abrams had been offered a Green Lantern and/or Superman movie, a Green Lantern show was coming to HBO Max and that Viola Davis was returning for The Suicide Squad – all of which have since been confirmed, have informed us that director Matt Reeves is adamant that The Batman remains separate from the DCEU and stands on its own merits, with the studio pushing hard for the Dark Knight to play a larger role in the franchise.
You can see why WB want to get Batman back into the fold as soon as possible, too, with the Caped Crusader being one of the most recognizable and popular names in popular culture. According to our sources, Warner Bros. want their movies to connect much closer than ever before and they want Robert Pattinson’s latest iteration of the character to front a new, rebooted DCEU with the eventual Flashpoint movie simply retconning everything that happened prior to Justice League.
But Reeves is sticking to his guns, insisting that Bats shouldn’t meet up with any other heroes, and he’s right. Bruce Wayne’s a character that’s already undergoing a third reboot in less than a decade, and despite all of the promising things we’ve been hearing about The Batman, having him cameo in multiple movies could result in over-exposure. Remember, Ben Affleck never got to star in a solo film but still played the role the same number of times as Christian Bale, and that was just between 2016 and 2017.
