DC_Cinematic

I've been thinking a lot about Batman in the upcoming DCU and honestly... I really hope they don't just give us another "gritty, grounded" take. Don't get me wrong, I love The Dark Knight Trilogy and even The Batman nailed the street-level detective vibe. But we've already seen that version done (and done well) multiple times.

What we haven't really gotten in live action is a Batman who fully embraces the fantastical side of the DC Universe-the kind of Batman who can fight Clayface, team up with Etrigan, travel to Apokolips, and still feel like Batman. The DC Animated Movie Universe did this really well. Batman was still the same calculating, intimidating figure, but he wasn't out of place next to Green Lantern fighting alien armies or standing alongside Wonder Woman battling gods.

Batman is versatile. He's the world's greatest detective and a guy who can prep for Darkseid. That balance of street-level grit and larger-than-life myth is what makes him special. If the DCU wants to feel connected and expansive, we need a Batman who can move between those worlds seamlessly.

A Batman who only ever fights mobsters and serial killers limits the potential of the character in a shared universe. A fantastical Batman opens the door for everything-League crossovers, supernatural arcs, weird sci-fi villains-while still giving us those grounded Gotham crime stories on the side.

We've had "realistic" Batman. Now it's time for the DCU to give us the full, mythic Dark Knight.

We have the 1st official DCU map of gotham city.

This is from the clayface movie set.

I Saw this on twitter by the way.

Any recognizable landmarks you noticed?

In peacemaker S2 ep2, we learn that cellphones are not able to send messages across dimensions. So if the monkeys were tweeting from a pocket dimension, how were their posts able to reach the social medias of people outside the pocket dimension?

SOURCE: https://www.threads.com/@jamesgunn/post/DOGqsd0EQe3

Batman is a guy with no superpowers. All he has is his intelligence, training, combat ability, and tools and gadgets. He cannot fly, he is not indestructible, he is just a man.

And here is why he works in those fantastical stories.

He is a man, but he can go toe to toe with literal godlike beings. He can fight people who have the power to come back from the dead, he can match wits with darkseid and avoid his omega beams. He can even hold his own against superman, shown on multiple occasions. Clayface, Killer Croc, so many others.

THAT is why Batman is an intriguing character. Because he, himself, is grounded, but he's good enough to fight characters who aren't grounded. He's a regular man with no superpowers, but he can do all of these insane things.

When you take that, and put him in a grounded universe, he loses that aspect of himself.

Now, he's just a regular man, fighting other regular people.

I liked the Robert Patterson movie, but at the end of the day, it's just Batman fighting an unhinged Twitch Streamer. Give Batman his own social media and it basically boils down to some Twitter drama between 2 influencers.

I don't wanna see Batman fight regular realistic people. I want to see him be BATMAN and face up against the impossible. That's why he's interesting and intriguing.

Personally I love Etrigan so much I wouldn't really care how he appears (cgi or practical effects) I would watch that movie anyway and love the character as long as he rhymes.

But holy shit, the make up on metamorpho in Superman gives me hope Etrigan could look really cool on the big screen!

Am I dumb for just realizing this, or am I making up something that doesn't actually exist? Yes, if course, Peacemaker came out long before Superman 2025, but the theory makes sense to me.

The timing would also explain why that one specifically irritates Superman. Peacemaker took place in 2022, Superman has been active for 3 years as of 2025. So that's a vicious rumor that's been following him around since the beginning.

Villain or hero.

Any role.

YOU get to place him in whatever role you feel he is a best fit for.

Constantine?

Dye his hair.

He's got the looks.

An older Bruce Wayne?

He's 44 and 6'1.

I'm not well-versed in all of DCs characters, so tell me who you think so I can look up the character!

Who y'all got bets on?

Personally, I'm thinking Nightwing and/or Clayface