While the DC Extended Universe is still in its infancy, WB has done a great job creating the building blocks of a shared cinematic universe. While the DC world is now just getting used to superpowered beings, aliens and gods, it was clear in Batman v Superman that Gotham City has had a wealth of history with Batman, his allies, and his rogues.
With the announcements of a Joss Whedon-directed Batgirl film, a David Ayer directed Gotham City Sirens film, a Nightwing film by Chris McKay, along with the solo Batman film by Matt Reeves, it was starting to become clear that Warner Bros. wanted to tap further into the ever expansive world of Batman. Heck, even Suicide Squad could be considered an extended Batman film with the Joker, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Katana, and Deadshot, not to mention Batman himself making a couple of appearances.
Batman has easily been DC and WB’s most successful film franchise, dating all the way back to Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989. And with one of the deepest cast of characters, many of which have never even seen the silver screen, DC Film’s Geoff Johns thinks it’s time for the DCEU to have its own Batman corner of the film universe.
Here’s what he had to say in an interview with IGN Live:
“We haven’t gone out there and said what our slate is and that’s because we’ll do it when we’re ready and we have the films that we’re excited about. But for Batman, what I will say is that Batman is more than just Batman and, you know, it’s been way too long since we’ve seen an expansion of that universe, and Batgirl – we are doing Batgirl with Joss Whedon, it’s going to be super exciting. He’s going to start that next year, and that’s just the start. We want to explore the Batman universe in a very big new way and Matt Reeves is coming on to do Batman now, and we don’t want to do the same thing that has been done before. We want to build it out just like we built it out in the comics.”
There are great, and super important, characters such as Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon that have yet to get a truly great adaptation on film. Think of missed opportunities such as the Penguin, Poison Ivy, or Mr. Freeze? How about some of the great characters that have never even been sniffed on the silver screen? Hugo Strange. Mad Hatter. Tim Drake. Damian Wayne. Harvey Bullock. Batwoman. Red Hood. Spoiler. Ace the Bat-Hound!
While making a Batman film, or any film for that matter, it’s important you don’t create too many side threads that convolute the story. This is partly what happened in Batman v Superman with them trying to build an entire shared universe in 2.5 hours to make Justice League. There are so many great character’s in Batman’s history there’s no way they could all fit into one film, but it’s great to see a lot of them finally getting their due.
What characters or stories are you most excited to see in Batman’s corner of the DCEU? Personally, I just want to see Jason Todd’s death on film.