James Gunn just revealed that he killed a fully greenlit DC project, which sounds like it could be Andy Muschietti’s Batman movie, The Brave and the Bold.
The news also follows the heavy speculation that Gunn’s sequel to Superman he is currently writing, will be a World’s Finest movie teaming the David Corenswet Man of Steel with the new DCU Batman.
What does James Gunn say?
Script Wasn’t Good Enough
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Gunn explained that while the movie had the green light and everyone was on board, he shut it down over script issues:
“We just killed a project. Everybody wanted to make the movie. It was greenlit, ready to go. The screenplay wasn’t ready. And I couldn’t do a movie where the screenplay’s not good.”
Gunn contrasted that with Supergirl, Lanterns, and Clayface, all of which he praised for having “so f—ing good” scripts.
While Gunn didn’t name the project, cancellingThe Brave and the Bold fits.
Update: Gunn says later on in the interview that Batman is a top priority and that he’s “working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right.” When asked if it’s still The Brave and The Bold, Gunn replies, “Right now, yeah. Right now.”
If Brave and the Bold isn’t the scrapped project, the other likely candidates from the previously announced DCU slate—each with little visible development—include:
- The Authority
- Swamp Thing
- Waller
- Booster Gold
- Paradise Lost
Update #2: The canceled project is likely Sgt. Rock.
What happened with The Brave and the Bold?
When the DCU slate was first announced, The Flash director Andy Muschietti was revealed as the director of Brave and the Bold, which would feature Batman and his son Damian Wayne. However, The Flash mega-bombed, and Gunn has since said the script wasn’t ready, which some took as a sign he wasn’t happy with it.
That led to speculation that Gunn might be trying to replace Muschietti or even bring Robert Pattinson’s Batman into the DCU. Gunn confirmed that the idea of Pattinson as the DCU’s Batman had been discussed.
Then Muschietti said The Brave and the Bold was postponed and that he was working on a different project. Meanwhile, Pattinson and Matt Reeves’ The Batman: Part II got pushed again, this time to 2027.
With Batman: Part II now arriving years later, there was a theory that Gunn might sync Reeves’ Batman with the new DCU and David Corenswet’s Superman, which would effectively kill Brave and the Bold. However, Reeves and Pattinson’s Batman doesn’t appear to be coming to the DCU, as it has been said Reeves’ Batman is still in its own universe.
Muschietti Says His Batman Is the DCU Batman
Back in January, Muschietti pushed back against all the speculation, not to mention Gunn’s comments on Threads, Muschietti said his Batman movie is the DCU Batman and made it clear it’s separate from Reeves’ films.
He explained the delay was about timing — to avoid overlapping with The Batman: Part II — not because it was canceled.
Gunn working on World’s Finest?
So if Gunn didn’t like the script for The Brave and the Bold, and canceled it, he may have recently hinted at World’s Finest.
“What I’m working on is in some way…I mean, yes, yes, yes, yes. But is it a straight-up Superman sequel? I would not say necessarily,” teased Gunn.
Gunn also confirmed the Justice League doesn’t exist yet in the DCU, so World’s Finest could team Superman with Batman for the first time, leading to the eventual creation of the Justice League in Gunn’s DC universe.
