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This summer, Matt Reeves finally began production on The Batman: Part II. After numerous delays and release date shifts, it seemed like everything had been settled and the project would remain on track for its planned October 2027 premiere. Unfortunately, there was one more delay in store. It’s been announced that The Batman: Part II has been pushed back to February 2028, nearly six years after The Batman arrived. DC fans remain excited to finally see the film, but they’re understandably frustrated by this latest development. A tease of Robert Pattinson’s new Batsuit can only smooth things over so much.
Obviously, any time a major blockbuster sequel moves its release date, it’s significant, but the case of the new Batman: Part II delay is even more concerning because of the domino effect it has. Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga is not the only franchise that’s impacted. The DC Universe is affected as well. In 2023, DC Studios co-head James Gunn announced The Brave and the Bold, a Batman film that would revolve around Bruce Wayne’s relationship with his son Damian. Since then, fans have waited to find out when the DCU’s Batman will arrive, but the wait just got longer.
How The Batman: Part II‘s Delay Impacts The Brave and the Bold
From the beginning, Batman has been a major problem that Gunn and Peter Safran need to solve as they piece the DC Universe franchise together. That’s because Reeves’ franchise with Pattinson takes place in its own separate continuity. While that’s great for Reeves from a creative perspective (he has the freedom to tell the stories he wants without worrying about any shared universe obligations), it makes things quite difficult for Gunn and Safran. As the Batman Epic Crime Saga continues, the DC Studio execs are attempting to concoct a way to integrate a different Batman into the DCU. Their solution is The Brave and the Bold, with the hopes that the premise is enough to distinguish it from Pattinson’s take.
What Gunn and Safran are attempting is largely unprecedented. There hasn’t been a situation where there are two separate live-action film series revolving around the same superhero before. The animated Spider-Verse movies have been able to coexist harmoniously with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s live-action projects, but the clear difference in medium makes it easy for general audiences to compartmentalize. Two live-action Batmen running around simultaneously could be confusing to casual viewers who aren’t as attuned to the ins and outs of shared movie universes. For his part, Gunn realizes this, which is why he’s adamant that The Brave and the Bold will not release in the same calendar year as The Batman: Part II.
This is why the latest Batman: Part II delay is terrible for the DC Universe. Gunn’s stance means The Brave and the Bold can’t debut until 2029 at the earliest — and that’s assuming everything goes well behind the scenes and there aren’t any issues with the script, casting, or production. If The Brave and the Bold premieres in 2029, it will (coincidentally) have been six years since the project was announced, four years after Superman kicked off the DCU film slate, and two years after the third movie starring the Super Family. That’s a long time for the DCU to go without a Batman (save for a cameo in the animated series Creature Commandos), putting Gunn and Safran in a tight spot. Batman is the most popular character under DC’s roof, and he’s necessary for building out a shared cinematic universe. The DCU needs its Batman sooner rather than later, and his arrival keeps getting pushed back.
Making this all the more precarious is the current state of the superhero movie landscape. Over the past few years, there are growing signs that movies based on secondary, B- and C-list characters are no longer the instant box office draw they were when the genre was at its peak in the 2010s. Films about A-list characters are safer box office bets. It isn’t a coincidence that Superman was the highest-grossing comic book movie last year. DC Studios, of course, is reeling from the box office bomb that was Supergirl and could use a mega hit. It would be nice if the DC Universe had a Batman movie upcoming it could rely on soon, but right now Gunn and Safran are trying to tread water until they have a clear opening. It remains to be seen how their film slate post-Man of Tomorrow pans out. With Clayface on the way and a Bane and Deathstroke movie in the works, right now the DCU is attempting to tell Gotham City stories without Batman — which doesn’t sound like a surefire recipe for success.
Will The Brave and the Bold Ever Be Released?
With The Brave and the Bold at least three years away from release, there’s a conversation to be had about whether or not the movie will even see the light of day. In the aftermath of Supergirl, there have been many think pieces about what it means for the future of the DC Universe and comic book adaptations as a whole. It’s important for people to not overreact to one movie bombing. Prior to Supergirl, DC Studios released a string of well-received projects (though the Peacemaker Season 2 finale was a bit divisive), and there are reasons to be optimistic about Lanterns, Clayface, and Man of Tomorrow. However, we would be remiss to not highlight the notion that the DC Universe may not be on the stablest footing at this point in time.
In its report detailing the behind-the-scenes troubles that plagued Supergirl, The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that Gunn and Safran’s contracts expire either at the end of 2026 or 2027. With the Paramount/Warner Bros. merger impending, Gunn and Safran may not stick around after Man of Tomorrow. As Paramount takes over (assuming the merger goes through), the new bosses will surely have their own ideas and vision for what to do with DC properties. Right now, everyone is publicly saying the right things about the matter, but things could easily change once the merger is finalized. Paramount could opt to simply not renew Gunn and Safran’s deals, quickly closing the book on one era (before it really had a chance to begin) before starting another. Paramount, hungry for new franchise installments, isn’t going to let DC sit on the shelf and collect dust.
How things transpire will obviously depend a great deal on how the next wave of DC Universe projects is received. Should Lanterns, Clayface, and Man of Tomorrow become fan favorites and score high box office grosses, then it’ll be easier to paint Supergirl as a bump on the road that the burgeoning franchise can learn from. If things are in a good place under Gunn’s leadership after Man of Tomorrow, then Paramount could be inclined to renew Gunn and Safran’s contracts (assuming the pair want to remain onboard post-merger). Paramount didn’t hire Gunn to run DC, but all studio executives like to make money, and if Gunn’s slate is finding success, it wouldn’t make sense to move on and upset the apple cart. But if Supergirl was a harbinger of things to come and more DCU projects struggle to resonate, then the Paramount bosses will likely opt for a clean slate.
All that said, none of this clears up the Batman issue. Reeves intends to make a third movie in his series, and if Gunn doesn’t want The Brave and the Bold to open in the same year as The Batman: Part II, it stands reason to believe he’d feel the same way about The Batman: Part III. Considering the level of acclaim The Batman and The Penguin received, Paramount probably wouldn’t want to pull the plug on that franchise while Reeves still has a story to tell (especially if The Batman: Part II performs similarly to The Batman at the box office). The Brave and the Bold could conceivably release between installments of the Reeves trilogy, but that will depend on how fast these projects come together, if Paramount is convinced the two Batmen idea can work, and whether or not Gunn and Safran remain at DC. If their contracts aren’t renewed, it’s hard to see The Brave and the Bold getting off the ground. In that scenario, the likeliest outcome is Paramount allowing Reeves to wrap up his trilogy before rebooting Batman with a fresh concept.
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