UPDATE 8/27: “Until the merger is settled” now has dates. The court has set the trial for March 2-19, 2027, with a ruling possibly as late as June.
UPDATE: James Gunn now denies the film is on hold, saying it doesn’t sound like something Andy Muschietti would say and that the director was “out of the loop” and only “insinuated” the claim.
The DCU’s Batman movie is not waiting on a script, a star, or James Gunn. It is waiting on David Ellison.
That is the takeaway from a Sunday post by Dan Marcus, a writer, columnist, and filmmaker who hosts The Film Frontier.
Marcus says Andy Muschietti told him that “all work on The Brave and the Bold is on hold until after the merger is settled.”
It came out sideways. A parody account, Chaos Crave, posted a fake casting scoop Sunday claiming actor Michael Johnston is in negotiations to play Dick Grayson/Nightwing in “Andy Muschietti’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold.”
Marcus quote-posted it and said:
“I have no idea if this is true or false (I’m assuming it’s definitely false), but I did hear from Muschietti that all work on THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD is on hold until after the merger is settled.”
When a reply pointed out the account has “parody” in its bio, Marcus answered, “I do now.”
So the Nightwing casting is nothing.
The other half of the post is the story, and it cleared nearly 50,000 views within a few hours.
Rumor, Not Report
Sourcing first.
Marcus is a verified filmmaker and film commentator, not a trade reporter.
He did not say when or where he heard it, and a reply asking exactly that had gone unanswered as of this writing. Muschietti has not said it publicly.
File it as a rumor.
It is also a rumor that matches everything else on the board.
The Merger Contract Already Said This
On August 6, we laid out why Gunn’s DCU Batman still isn’t cast.
The answer is in the merger agreement.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the deal restricts new agreements involving “key property” IP.
Warner Bros. can keep making deals, but they can only run two years past the merger’s closing date.
Anything longer gives Paramount the first crack at negotiating, and bigger deals need Paramount’s sign-off once they cross dollar thresholds. In other words, Ellison already holds veto power over DC’s long-term future.
A Batman movie is nothing but long paper: a director deal, a multi-picture star contract, sequel options, a Justice League down the line.
None of it fits inside two years of a closing date that does not exist yet.
That is why Alan Ritchson walked away from the cowl talking about another DC character.
It is why Gunn keeps repeating that no Batman is cast.
It is why Man of Tomorrow is filling up with cameo contracts and HBO Max is handing out single-season orders the contract allows.
Marcus’ version, attributed to Muschietti, is the same conclusion said out loud.
“Settled” Is Not Close
The $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal has been on hold since California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other states sued to block it in July.
The trial is set for March 2, 2027 in federal court in Oakland.
On Monday, August 24, Paramount and the states sit down for court-ordered mediation.
Bonta’s price is “robust structural remedies,” meaning pieces of the company sold off or kept separate.
Paramount’s clock is $7 million a day in ticking fees starting October 1, plus Ellison’s threat to move the company out of California if there is no deal.
If Monday produces nothing, the merger sits until spring 2027 at the earliest. Per Marcus, so does the DCU Batman.
Where That Leaves Muschietti And Gunn
Muschietti was announced as director in June 2023. Christina Hodson is writing the script.
In February 2025, Gunn and Peter Safran said they would show Muschietti the script when it was ready and “then see if it’s a great fit for him.”
In January, THR reported he remains on board, with his involvement depending on timing and availability.
In March, he and producer Barbara Muschietti were still fielding fan-casting questions from CinemaBlend as the film’s filmmakers, with Barbara noting “the one thing that we get to do is to pick our cast.”
Since then, he has gone back to It: Welcome to Derry Season 2.
If Marcus heard right, Muschietti is still close enough to the project to know its status. He is just not doing anything on it.
Gunn, meanwhile, keeps saying the script isn’t finished and no Batman is cast.
He has said he doesn’t want to “cloud the Batsphere” while Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II is in production, and that movie is now dated for February 2028.
His and Safran’s DC Studios deals reportedly run only into spring 2027, per Bloomberg. That is the same window as the trial.
And per our insiders, Gunn’s DC farewell is already written, with Ellison’s side wanting both him and Safran out.
So here is the sequence: the merger settles, Paramount takes control, and then somebody decides who makes the DCU’s Batman. Per our reporting, that somebody is not Gunn. And that someone we are told is Matt Reeves and Zack Snyder.
