The DCU’s Batman Movie Won’t Rehash His Backstory — And That’s A Good Thing

It may be some time before the new DC Universe unveils its take on Batman in The Brave and the Bold, but DC co-chair James Gunn is tentatively teasing the Caped Crusader where he can. Batman appears in the latest episode of Creature Commandos, but only in silhouette — and even that was tough for Gunn to commit to.

“When they first gave [the episode] to me, we saw a lot more Batman,” Gunn recently told Rotten Tomatoes. The filmmaker pushed back on a cameo that would give too much away, eventually settling for a brief appearance from a distance. “I just went like, ‘More silhouette, more silhouette, more silhouette.’ It’s a great way to show that Batman does exist.”

Creature Commandos establishes Batman as a well-known fixture of the DCU, but don’t expect future DC stories to backtrack where the character is concerned. The Brave and the Bold will introduce the character well into his crime-fighting career, all without mention of his backstory. “We don’t need to hear the origin story again,” continued Gunn. “He already exists in this universe, just like when we come to the Superman movie and we see that Superman already exists and is already known by the people of Metropolis.”

For Gunn, Batman’s cameo in Creature Commandos was the perfect introduction: “That’s just the way to introduce that Batman is a part of this universe, he’s an important part of this universe, and he has an impact on it.”

Batman’s origin story is, by now, synonymous with the character, so Gunn isn’t wrong for wanting to skip it altogether. The murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents has been rehashed and remixed in nearly every Batman story, so much so that tangential projects set in Gotham (like the animated Harley Quinn series) have parodied it to equal effect. It may seem like a risk to withhold yet another flashback to Bruce’s childhood, but The Brave and the Bold won’t be the first to do it. The Batman already proved that a Batman story can work without direct reference to his primal wound — and even before the 2022 film, DC’s competitors at Marvel mastered the art of introducing new characters without a dedicated origin film.

In the early days of the MCU, most films were dedicated to origin stories, and for good reason. For something as ambitious as The Avengers to actually work, audiences had to spend time with the heroes who’d go on to join the squad. Understanding where someone like Captain America was coming from, or the world that would produce a hero like Thor, was integral to the future team-up. As the franchise matured, however, it made more sense to weave new characters into existing adventures. Captain America 3 brought a new version of Spider-Man into the fold with ease, and it also set the stage for Black Panther’s first solo outing.

Admittedly, Marvel’s most recent efforts have struggled to introduce new heroes organically. Phase Four was rife with clunky, reductive origin stories for characters like America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), Riri Williams, aka Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton). Despite its recent failures, though, Marvel’s technique is plenty effective when done right — especially with characters that audiences may be familiar with already.

If anyone fits that brief, it’s Batman. He’s occupied the zeitgeist for so long, even those without a dedicated interest in comic book stories could likely cite his origins by heart. And with so many versions of Batman to compete with (including Pattinson’s, who will eventually return in The Batman II), it’s probably a good idea to take the road less traveled.