James Gunn's DCU is Sabotaging Itself Before It Can Get Started
Don’t overthink it.
As the new DC Universe takes off, there seems to be one question on fans’ minds. What’s going on with The Batman and its spinoffs, and does it actually have a place in the new canon?
The answer has always been the same: the “Batman Epic Crime Saga,” created by director Matt Reeves and his producing partner Dylan Clark, is entirely its own thing. Rather than joining the DCU, Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader occupies his own space in Elseworlds, an imprint designed for any DC story that takes place outside of established canon. Gunn will introduce a new incarnation of Batman for his DC Universe in the years to come, and he’s never wavered on that strategy. But that doesn’t make this new plan any less confusing.
Given the success of The Batman and its most recent spinoff, The Penguin, it doesn’t make much sense to keep the Epic Crime Saga on the sidelines. Ironically, there was a time when Gunn might have even agreed, but the filmmaker seems committed to keeping DCU and Elseworlds separate — even if it means tangling the new universe into knots.
The Batman is still a separate aspect of the DCU — but does it have to be?
In a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn revealed that he once considered making Pattinson’s Batman DCU canon. “I contemplate everything,” he explained. “I’d be an idiot not to think of how can this go or how can this go. But I’m committed to both telling stories in the DCU and telling Elseworlds stories. I want the freedom to tell Elseworlds stories.”
It’s also important to note that the decision to keep The Batman in its own universe doesn’t rest with Gunn alone. In 2023, the filmmaker confirmed that Reeves ultimately chose to build out his own independent saga, and as tempting as it may be to bring the Bat into the fold, Gunn is keen to respect the director’s wishes. It can’t be easy keeping the balance between one canon and another — but one has to wonder whether Gunn truly needs to keep that balance at all.
Plenty of ink has been spilled on the new DC continuity and the issues that this soft reboot has caused. The DCU is barely in its infancy, but its relationship to past DC projects is confusing enough already. This week Creature Commandos unveiled a new-ish look at the universe, but ultimately it feels like more of the same. After much hand-wringing about which legacy characters will appear in the new DCU, and which events are still canon in this new world, it just feels as though Gunn and his creative co-chair, Peter Safran, are making things more complicated than they need to be.
The Penguin just reaffirmed the strength of the Epic Crime Saga, but it won’t change its place in DC canon.
The rules governing the DC reboot are frustratingly nebulous, and that’s before we even get to the idea of another Batman coming into the picture. It all just feels like way too much, especially after last year’s tumult with The Flash — which brought back three Batmen for a spin around the block — and the abrupt cancellation of Batgirl. If Viola Davis and John Cena can pull double duty in the old DC Universe and the new, why can’t Pattinson? The DCU needs all the stability it can get, and Gunn and Reeves’ strategy can’t possibly help in that regard.
