Chris Pratt is in a lot of things, but don’t expect him to play Batman in the DC Universe.
That’s according to DCU steward James Gunn, who ruled out Pratt as Batman in an interview with PelucheEn ElEstuche.
However, it sounds like Gunn does have a role lined up for Pratt in the DCU, saying: “As something else? Yes.”
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn Pratt is set for the DCU, given he’s such close friends with Gunn. Pratt is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest stars, having played Peter Quill / Star-Lord in all Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as well as Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
Is Pratt’s time in the MCU at an end? His name was conspicuous by its absence from Marvel Studios’ initial Avengers: Doomsday casting announcement — something the actor subsequently joked about.
“I don’t know! I think it was, like, far off,” Pratt told Collider after being asked about his chair. “They must have cut away from it. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know. It was there. I’m sure it was there.”
Marvel has said more actors will be revealed for next year’s superhero blockbuster, but will Pratt finally get his chair? Could he appear in the MCU and the DCU at the same time?
As for Batman, Gunn’s pick for the iconic role remains a mystery, although we know Robert Pattinson won’t cross over from Matt Reeves’ self-contained DC universe, the ‘Batman Epic Crime Saga,’ into the DCU.
While promoting the rebooted DCU kickstarter Superman earlier this year, Gunn admitted: “Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now.”
In February, Gunn and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran confirmed The Brave and the Bold will introduce a new Batman into the DCU, ruling out Pattinson crossing the streams in the process. At the time, Safran and Gunn said Pattinson would play Batman in Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga only.
So what does the prospect of Reeves’ The Batman 2 in 2027 and The Batman 3 coming out after mean for the timing of The Brave and the Bold? Gunn faces the potentially confusing situation of having two actors playing Batman in movies across two different DC universes.
As of February, The Brave and the Bold was said to be in “very active development,” and the story was “coming together very nicely.” But is The Flash director Andy Muschietti still directing? Gunn and Safran are developing the script, and will show it to Muschietti “when we have it in a place where we think it’s ready to go… and see if it’s a fit for him,” Safran said earlier this year. “I’m very, very actively involved in that script,” Gunn said, also earlier this year.
Speaking more recently on Batman, Gunn said he’s not actually writing The Brave and the Bold, but is working with an unnamed writer to “get it right.”
“Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now, personally,” he said. “And it’s not — I’m not writing Batman, but I am working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman.
“So outside of the stuff that I’m doing in the projects that are actively going, our two priorities are finishing our Wonder Woman and our Batman scripts.”
Gunn then discussed in vague terms the kind of Batman he’s going for — or, perhaps it would be better to say the kind of Batman he’s trying to avoid.
“Batman has to have a reason for existing, right? So Batman can’t just be, ‘Oh, we’re making a Batman movie because Batman’s the biggest character in all of Warner Bros.,’ which he is. But because there’s a need for him in the DCU and a need that he’s not exactly the same as Matt’s Batman.
“But yet he’s not a campy Batman. I’m not interested in that. I’m not interested in a funny, campy Batman, really. So we’re dealing with that. I think I have a way in, by the way. I think I really know what it’s — I just am dealing with the writer to make sure that we can make it a reality.”
Chris Pratt, meanwhile, is set to reprise his role as Mario in The Super Mario Bros Movie 2, due out next year.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
