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Credit: DC / Warner Bros.James Gunn’s new DC Universe (DCU) has strongly hinted at which Batman might be leading the franchise alongside David Corenswet’s Superman.
While this year’s Superman (2025) will kick things off for the brand-new DC Universe in live action, the new animated series Creature Commandos—created by DC Studios’ co-CEO James Gunn (who also directs the upcoming Man of Steel film)—now streaming on Max is the first official installment in the rebooted shared universe.
Forming part of the first wave of new DCU movies and television shows titled “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters”, Creature Commandos is an adult animated series based on the DC Comics of the same name (think Suicide Squad but even wilder). So far, the show has received wide critical acclaim from fans and critics; a promising first entry in the new DCU.
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But it would be a lie to suggest that we aren’t far more excited about the upcoming Superman reboot—perhaps not when it was first announced, or when that first image of David Corenswet suiting up as the Last Son of Krypton went viral for all the wrong reasons, but now that we’ve seen the first official trailer, which has received an overwhelmingly positive reception, we can’t wait to see James Gunn’s film fly into theaters this summer.
Watch the official trailer below, per DC:
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But while it remains to be seen how David Corenswet will fare as the next Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman (he follows in the footsteps of giants like Christopher Reeve and Henry Cavill), fans are already looking ahead to the future of the new DCU. Specifically, the new Bruce Wayne/Batman in the upcoming film, The Brave and the Bold (TBA).
But things have gotten a little complicated for the new Batman reboot, which has yet to cast an actor as the Caped Crusader, who will replace Ben Affleck’s version of the character.
Recently, The Brave and the Bold director Andy Muschietti (2023’s The Flash) has suggested that the new Batman film has been delayed, which comes alongside reports that Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022), which exists in its own timeline (dubbed “DC Elseworlds”), has also been stalled until 2027, leading to rumors that James Gunn and co-CEO Peter Safran are planning to integrate the Robert Pattinson-led films into the new DCU, which would negate the need for a new Dark Knight to spearhead the upcoming franchise alongside Corenswet’s Superman.
Now, things have taken an even more confusing turn, with the latest episode of Creature Commandos (Episode 6, “Priyatel Skelet”) giving us our first look at the new Batman in a brief cameo (albeit in animation), in which his silhouette can be seen through a skylight.
But the hulking outline actually looks very similar to Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman (known affectionately by fans as “Batfleck”), as seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Justice League (2017), Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), and The Flash (2023), all of which form part of the now-defunct DC Extended Universe (DCU).
However, while Creature Commandos marks the beginning of the new DCU, which is expected to feature a new Batman, there’s a reason why the Caped Crusader looks like a lot like Batfleck.
“I wrote the series [Creature Commandos] before I took over at the head of DC, it’s something we had ready to go,” James Gunn recently said of the new animated series in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, which suggests that the version of Batman we see is, technically speaking, Batfleck.
However, Gunn wanted to strip back on the amount of Batman originally set to feature in the show. “When they first gave it [Creature Commandos] to me, (we) saw a lot more Batman,” he said, “and I was saying, ‘I’m not ready to commit to that, I’m not ready to commit to that, I’m not ready to commit to that! More silhouette, more silhouette, more silhouette!'”
“But then I think it’s [the cameo] a great way to show that Batman does exist,” Gunn added. “He already exists in this universe, just like when we come to the Superman movie, we see that Superman already exists, he’s already known by the people in Metropolis, so we don’t need to hear the [Batman] origin story again.”
So, while the silhouette is large and hulking like Batfleck, could it, canonically, be Robert Pattinson (AKA “Battinson” by fans)? After all, we don’t get to see his origin story, either, as The Batman takes place during the Caped Crusader’s second year fighting crime.
When Gunn is asked which Batman appears in Creature Commandos, he playfully (and cryptically) responds, “This is the DCU Batman!”
Whether Robert Pattinson is integrated into the new DCU remains to be seen. If he is, or if The Brave and the Bold introduces a new version that’s also very different to Ben Affleck’s portrayal, we can always put Creature Commandos‘ Batman down to being nothing more than a generic, animated placeholder for whoever is set to lead the new franchise.
Creature Commandos is now streaming on Max. Superman releases in theaters on July 11.
Which version of Batman would you like to see in the new DCU? Let us know in the comments below!