James Gunn’s Big Batman Announcement Has Me Excited About the Possibilities

Batman is getting a new face. Again. Sort of. While we still have The Batman franchise from Matt Reeves in the DC world, that’s part of an Elseworlds arc and doesn’t fold into James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new vision for the upcoming interconnected slate of the DCU. But what is part of their plans is a new movie titled The Brave and the Bold that brings in the DCU’s proper Batman with his son Damian Wayne.

The movie is set to bring a new actor (again) into the role of Bruce Wayne (with Robert Pattinson still playing the role in the Elseworlds movies). We don’t yet know who is going to play either part, but The Brave and the Bold will be based on Grant Morrison’s Batman run, and it includes Damian and Bruce meeting. To be clear, he doesn’t meet a baby version of Damian. He’s ten years old when he’s left in his father’s custody, so it will be Batman with a child (presumably), and I can’t wait.

Now, if you don’t know the comics, you might not know who Damian is because he is, for the most part, only in the comics and some of the animated properties. In fact, we’ve not seen many of Batman’s kids in live action—just a bit of Dick Grayson in Batman & Robin (played by Chris O’Donnell) and in the older Batman television show. The point is: Batman had some kids, and we rarely get to see them in the movies.

In the comics, Batman adopts Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain, and Tim Drake. He also has two children, a son with Talia al Ghul (Damian) and a daughter with Selina Kyle, but the inclusion of Damian could mean more of the Bat Family is coming. And it is about time for them to show up!

Time for my girl

I had begun to give up hope that I would ever see Helena Wayne in live action. While we got Helena Bertinelli as the Huntress in Birds of Prey, they’re not the same character, and Helena Wayne (and my love for her) stems from Batman and Catwoman having a relationship together. Helena Wayne is the daughter of Selina and Bruce and, in her world, she knows her father. Unlike Damian, Helena was raised to become Batman’s successor, and in the comics, the two do meet, even though they’re not from the same Earth. There is plenty that they could do with her character.

My point is: We’re getting the Bat Fam. And so my hope that we might end up with a Helena Wayne in live action has come back. I just want to see the Bat Fam as they’re meant to be. For so long, we’ve just been given hints of it (with Ben Affleck’s Batman alluding to the death of Dick Grayson in Batman V. Superman).

Actually seeing the Bat Fam in action? It’d be great! And I think that The Brave and the Bold is a step in that direction.

(featured image: DC Comics)