Since announcing the DCU slate last year, James Gunn has been pretty vocal about prioritizing stories over everything else. Being a writer/director himself, the Peacemaker showrunner has continued to stress the importance of storytelling in the medium, which many CBM releases have been undermining in recent years.
Similar is the case with DCU’s Batman, as even though the film was announced a long time ago, Gunn clarified they’ve no intentions of rushing its development without a story worth telling.
Screenplay Remains Utmost Important in James Gunn’s DCU
While DC has been struggling to build an interwoven cinematic universe for years, one thing they’ve got mostly right is Batman, and we’ve got the creative minds behind them to thank for it. Although Matt Reeves continues to excel with The Batman Epic Crime Saga, fans are intrigued to see what James Gunn‘s DCU will have to offer with its very own caped crusader.
But even though announcements from the DCU don’t stop coming, there has been little news about the progress of its very own Batman feature. Addressing it, the Superman filmmaker clarified that until they have a screenplay at hand, they’re totally content with the movie not getting made, reiterating (via Collider) “Everything in DC is going to be based on the writers”.
There’s no set timeline for anything. The one thing that I’ve tried to make clear to people from the beginning, in the way that I hope we’re different, is that everything in DC is going to be based on the writers. Until we have a screenplay that I’m totally happy with, that movie is not going to get made, no matter what it is
On the bright side, this could ensure that the Dark Knight’s legacy on the silver screen remains untarnished, which also explains why the new regime had no issues with the delay of The Batman Part II.
James Gunn Sets the Record Straight About The Batman 2’s Progress
Originally slated for a 2025 release, The Batman Part II was later pushed back to 2026, and this could be linked to Reeves’ progress on the script for the sequel. Even though some reports previously claimed that the filmmaker was done with his work on the second chapter’s script, Gunn recently cleared the air, adding they’re still (via Threads) “very much looking forward to it”.
I think that report was well-intentioned but it was mistaken. We are very much looking forward to it.
Considering that the issues with most CBM failures in recent years boiled down to their underwhelming storylines, the new regime’s stance on prioritizing writers seems like a step in the right direction.
The Batman Part II is currently slated to hit theatres on 2 October 2026.
