Update, August 6: Ritchson’s “standards” now have a paper trail. The Paramount merger contract explains the entire Batman stall â locked sequel options are exactly what Warner Bros. cannot offer on its own right now.
Update, July 29: James Gunn now says the DCU Batman has not been cast, replying “De and bunked” on Threads.
Update, July 26: Ritchson has now addressed Batman head on at Comic-Con, telling the Reacher panel he does not think Batman is in the cards and that his DC conversations are about another character. He also said “never say never.”
Alan Ritchson just delivered the loudest non-denial of the DCU Batman rumors yet, and he capped the interview with a wink.
The Reacher star sat down with Josh Horowitz on Thursday’s episode of Happy Sad Confused to promote Motor City, which opens in theaters today, and Horowitz went right at it, noting he has talked to James Gunn about Ritchson and that Gunn is a very big fan.
“James Gunn and I have spoken a lot,” Ritchson replied.
So Horowitz tried to settle it: Is there a world where Ritchson is playing Batman, or is it something else? Where should he put his money?
“There’s so much to unpack here that you don’t even know,” Ritchson said. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
And then one of the most talkative men in Hollywood went silent. A long pause. “I… I… um…” was all Ritchson could get out, prompting Horowitz to crack that the silence “speaks volumes” because “the most loquacious man I’ve ever had on the podcast has no words.”
‘It’ll Have To Meet My Standards’
When Ritchson found his words again, pay attention to what he actually said, because it lines up with everything my sources have been telling me about the state of DC Studios.
“I really respect James. I would like to do something with James. James would like to do something with me. But my litmus test for what I will take is strict. I pick the sh*t out of projects. I know how to develop a project, and anything I do with DC will still meet my standards. It’ll have to meet my standards. I hope that we work on something that feels like we’re all making this movie that I would be proud of.”
Horowitz followed up: it sounds like he wants a seat at the table of the creative process. “If it would help, yeah,” Ritchson said. “So there could be a bright future for us. And there have been a lot of conversations.”
Read that back: a lot of conversations, and any DC project will “have to” meet his standards.
That is an actor who knows exactly what shape the kitchen is in.
Insiders describe the Man of Tomorrow script as “Frankensteined” together from leftover ideas, with Gunn shooting from a general outline and bolting on cameos as a reaction to the Supergirl backlash.
Frank Grillo is back shooting the movie seven weeks after he publicly wrapped.
Ritchson develops and produces his own projects. He is telling you, politely, that he is not jumping into that without guardrails.
‘And It’s Not Batman?’
Horowitz asked if Ritchson has a character in mind that he is not going to reveal.
“Yes,” Ritchson said.
And it’s not Batman?
Ritchson broke into a big smile: “Look, the future is bright and the horizons are broad and anything is possible for any of us, okay?”
That is not a no. A working actor with nothing cooking says nobody has called. An actor in the middle of something says the future is bright and the horizons are broad.
‘So, A Detective’
As the exchange wound down, Ritchson flipped the question around and asked Horowitz what his dream role in the world would be.
Horowitz joked that his dream role is getting to be the guy who asks Ritchson the question. They laughed, and Ritchson signed off with three words:
“So, a detective.”
Batman, of course, is the World’s Greatest Detective. It has been the character’s calling card since 1939, right there in the title of Detective Comics, the book Batman debuted in and the one DC is literally named after.
Ritchson ended a Batman interrogation by calling his interrogator a detective. If you think that word choice was an accident, I have a Batcave to sell you.
The Frontrunner
As I exclusively reported last week, Alan Ritchson is a frontrunner for James Gunn’s DCU Batman.
Per my sources, Gunn wants a bigger, older, darker Batman in the vein of Absolute Batman to clearly separate his version from Matt Reeves’ Robert Pattinson, and the fight over Gunn wanting his own Batman is the real reason The Batman Part II moved to February 2028.
The public record keeps stacking up alongside it.
Gunn has called himself a big Ritchson fan. Ritchson previously confirmed he met with Gunn and that “words have been exchanged about Batman.”
Rumors have swirled around other names like Mitchell Slaggert. And now this: “a lot” of conversations, a specific character in mind, and a refusal to rule out the Cowl when handed the layup.
Remember the clock ticking underneath all of it.
Per my reporting, the Paramount board wants Gunn and Peter Safran out once the merger closes, with Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy taking over. If Gunn wants his Batman on screen, the window is now, which is exactly why my sources say he has been pushing to get Batman into Man of Tomorrow.
“You don’t know what you’re asking for,” Ritchson told Horowitz. Respectfully, Alan: CBN readers do.
Ritchson can currently be seen in Motor City, in theaters now, with Reacher Season 4 on the way at Prime Video.
