Why Robert Pattinson should be the only choice for the DCU’s Batman –

I’m not going to discuss anything new here. Indeed, I imagine many of you also think Battinson should fight alongside David Corenswet’s Superman in the (hopefully) near future. The problem is – at least at the time of writing – James Gunn is very adamant that Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe remain part of Elseworlds. That means a new Batman is on the horizon while we have one of the best Batmen also getting his own trilogy.

Two Batmen appearing simultaneously in two different universes sounds like a recipe for disaster. Even if you don’t think Battinson is the best choice for the world’s greatest detective, we can certainly all agree that this sounds like an insanely confusing time for the general public. You could also set up direct comparisons and a competition between concurrent Batmen. The one who gives the better performance will be seen as the definitive version of the character, and that will be that. If Marvel has proven anything in recent years, it is that having multiversal shenanigans is only good for cheap pop. People care about consistent, shared stories that play off against each other, rather than individual debris from desperate appeals to less and less nostalgia.

The other option then, if James Gunn and Peter Safran really can’t make anything work with Matt Reeves, is to wait until the director is done with his own trilogy. Also not a good idea. The Batman sequel comes out in 2027, and it will probably be a few years before a third part comes out after that. Robert Pattinson will probably be well into his 40s by then, and the DCU will have made so much progress on its own that Batman will only become infamous during his absence.

The style of The Batman may not fit with the action-packed, mawkish Superman, but what are comic book and superhero stories if not diverse? Batman and Superman have always been clashing ideals, and yet I don’t think that has ever been better translated into live-action than with The Batman and Superman. A happy accident, certainly, but one that Warner Bros. should certainly benefit from.

Compromises will have to be made, of course. I don’t think Bruce Wayne from The Batman’s world will be fighting kaiju anytime soon like we saw in Superman, but the boy scout and troubled emo aesthetic of Corenswet and Battinson already look like they could lend quite nicely to a team-up. What they have in common is much stronger than the Snyderverse Batman and Superman anyway. Unlike the edgy, Henry Cavill Superman, Corenswet’s charming superhero is always looking to save as many lives as possible. Battinson, despite not always succeeding, tries to do the same. For example, look at the last act of The Batman. Batman is willing to throw his life away to prevent an electrical wire from shocking people stranded in a flood, and then spends his final moments of the film helping civilians save vehicles despite being badly injured himself.

Both The Batman and Superman (2025) understand the idea of a hero better than most recent superhero outings. They focus so strongly on their central characters that their alter egos actually feel a bit unfamiliar. These strengths mean that despite stylistic differences (and the constant questions people would ask Matt Reeves about why Superman didn’t help during the events of The Batman), these two characters could really shine brightly on screen together.

Among rumors of various castings and actors coming out of the woodwork saying they’d love to play Batman, I may sound like a bit of a petulant child, but I’d rather see no Batman at all (until Reeves is done) than see another caped crusader enter the streets of Gotham from the DCU. I think the story of James Gunn and Peter Safran could survive and even thrive without a Batman. Mr. Terrific played a Batman-like role in Superman’s story, a candid technical expert who mostly lacked superpowers.

The only problem I could really see in introducing Battinson is that I can’t see his character evolving alongside Robin, Nightwing, the Red Hood, Batgirl and all the other members of the Bat-family. Maybe The Batman: Part II can change that, but I’ve always seen Battinson as a solo player, tested by the limits of what he and he alone can accomplish.

That could throw a big spanner in the DCU’s wheel, and if it does, I’ll eat a big slice of humble pie. If that is not the case, however, and there is a way to work Robert Pattinson into the DCU, then I want to live in that timeline. I don’t think we’ll hear anything about this or see any confirmation until The Batman: Part II, so unfortunately we’ll be holding our breath for a while yet, fellow Batman heads.