Sick of multiverses yet? Too bad, DC and Warner Brothers are banking on it. Based on the freshest reports, DC Studios’ creative chief James Gunn is counting on fan loyalty to float two concurrent Bruce Wayne timelines. How is that going to work? Nobody knows yet, not even the people in charge. Is Gotham City big enough for two Batmans? Or is it Batmen?
WB is not averse to betting it all. On a losing streak at the moment, they’ve reached the logical endpoint of the DCEU, an exhausted brand, run by a company that has found itself shooting blanks, overextended, and facing financial doldrums thanks to years of bungled IPs and acquisitions. Their conclusion is as preposterous as it is pragmatic: doubling down on The Dark Knight. Or, more fitting to our riverboat gambler analogy, WB’s splitting their aces, playing two hands simultaneously. WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav is confident that at least one universe has to succeed and make a return on investment.
Can a House Divided Still Stand With DC?
In taking over the tangled reins of the DCU, James Gunn doesn’t hide the fact that the DC film universe will revolve heavily around Batman. Gunn refuted rumors, per Collider, that Robert Pattinson is his choice to play Batman in the DCU. Yet, Pattinson is still scheduled to film a sequel to the 2022 Matt Reeves iteration, The Batman. Meaning, going forward, we will witness two separate Batmans, in two separate and active Batman universes, with two incompatible Rogues Galleries. According to IGN, Gunn and co-CEO Peter Safran explained that the DCU is “outside of the grounded, non-super metahuman characters in Matt’s world,” which is a noirish “crime saga.” This accounts for the Penguin series (firmly in the Reeves universe) and the horror-themed Clayface movie (in Gunn’s DCU wheelhouse).
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Maybe one will be set in an alternate universe where Wayne’s parents survive. We don’t know, but we assume there must be some crucial deviation to differentiate the two, forcing Reeves and Gunn to share notes at some point in production to avoid redundancies. This division removes foreseeable complications arising from competing visions, mismatched scripts, and clashing tones, averting a Rian Johnson-JJ Abrams situation. The split could be a great opportunity. An enthusiastic Gunn admitted the upcoming Clayface film was a fluke and never anticipated a film devoted to that character until seeing the script he fell in love with.
The Complicated Logistics Behind Allocating DC Lore
Because there is no overlap, at least so far as we can glean from Gunn and Reeves’ remarks to the press, the two movie franchises will share no crossovers, no cameos, no shared actors, no intersecting plotlines, nothing but the WB logo. Reeves and Gunn must divvy up Batman’s Rogues Gallery like two kids taking turns picking teammates at recess. Only in this example, the two teams will never cross paths and are playing in an entirely different gymnasium. In WB’s defense, this makes sense as Batman’s roster of characters is so deep that even a third-rate villain like Killer Croc has some fans clamoring for a big-screen, live-action adaptation.
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If any canon can make it work, it is Batman, his villains often deeper than he is. Ask Christopher Nolan, who yanked Ra’s al Ghul from relative obscurity, turning him into the narrative centerpiece of an acclaimed trilogy. Black Adam‘s failed launch is damning proof you can’t make just any random comic character a hit. This isn’t 2019. Though Gunn and Reeves are cheering each other and insisting they aren’t in competition, it’s not hard to imagine WB top brass playing favorites and axing the box-office loser and redirecting all those marketing dollars toward the most successful Batman universe — winner take all. They don’t have the luxury of fairness.
The Truth Behind the Two Batmans
Some of you will ask, “Aren’t casual movie fans bound to suffer from fatigue or confusion, nitpicking and comparing the two Batmans to their detriment? Won’t others preemptively pick a side based on their favorite director or actors? Isn’t halving interest in two expensive movies an enormous risk?” Good questions. Judging by the state of WB and their recent choices, WB has no answers. Batman is their only reliable option in the comic department.
Considering the looming public domain date of 2035, they might not even have a Plan C or need one. WB Discovery boss Zaslav hinted at this in WB’s “10-year plan” three years ago, outlining a strategy to max out profit before their characters slip into public domain status. In theory, they could fight the public domain ruling, but if Disney and Steamboat Willie (a.k.a. Mickey Mouse) are any indicator, that’s not likely. Should WB allow knock-off Batmans to enter theaters, they will face a simple matter of supply and demand. Right now, there is solid demand, and they need to move the inventory before the bootlegs legally flood the market, watering down the value. WB isn’t facing only an artistic crisis, they are fighting time itself. The Batman 2 will hit theaters on Oct. 1, 2027, while the DCU will make its debut on the big screen on July 11, 2025.
