After months of anticipation, James Gunn and Peter Safran revealed the first chapter of their vision for a new DC Universe. For almost 20 years, we've had Batman solo adventures, but that cycle breaks with Brave and The Bold, a Bat-family movie.
The new movie will feature a new Batman actor and for the first time since 1995, Robin, leaping to the big screen, but the boy behind the wonder this time around will be Batman's own son, Damien.
"It's a very strange sort of father-son story about the two of them," Gunn said, explaining that this Robin is definitely a murderer, which goes against everything that Batman stands for in his war against crime.
The Dynamic Duo won't be fighting crime alone though, the film is set to feature other prominent Bat-family members. This movie comes on the coattails of the Batgirl movie getting outright canceled in the middle of last summer after almost being completed.
Here are just a few of our plans. Up, up, and away! #DCStudios #DCU @DCComics pic.twitter.com/8XNDNLUEPq
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 31, 2023
The project is based on the run of Batman comics authored by Grant Morrison, who Gunn said was "exceptionally influential" on the DCU.
Gunn and Safran said that this first chapter is called "Gods and Monsters" and explained how they came up with their initial plan on who to bring to the screen again.
"We sat down in a room for a few days and we started to bash out what the basic overall plan could be," Gunn said (via Variety). "Not so much that it ties your wrists, but enough that we know what the basic story is, where we're going. And it's something that we'll continue to do."
Gunn and Safran also talked about and provided updates on DC projects that fall outside their core DCU, including Matt Reeves' The Batman Part II and Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux, which will bring back Robert Pattinson as Batman, Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker, respectively, as well as bring in Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn to the fold. Those projects will be labeled as DC: Elseworlds.
Brave and The Bold is based on Grant Morrison's Batman run in the mid to late 2010s. Gunn said those comics were "exceptionally influential" on the DCU.
No release date or casting announcements were revealed.