Big News: The Batman Isn’t Part of the DCEU

Welp, there goes my hopes of seeing dirtbag Batman Robert Pattinson working side by side with a perfectly-crafted-to-play Superman Henry Cavill. The Batman, which is the Matt Reeves reboot of the Dark Knight story, has now been revealed to exist in a world completely different from the DCEU as we know it.

In an announcement for a new show centered around the Gotham PD (yes, a cop show in 2020), HBO Max stated that the show “will be set in the world Reeves is creating for the feature film “The Batman,” with the intent being to launch a new Batman universe across multiple platforms.” Meaning that we won’t be seeing Robert Pattinson ziplining his way through Gotham while in a love triangle with Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Cavill’s Clark Kent. SAD.

Here’s the thing: It kind of makes sense right now? Hear me out: Pattinson’s Batman in no way could age into Affleck’s. Sorry. And, technically, Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne is getting a second wind on HBO Max, because he’s going to be featured differently in Justice League when we get the Snyder Cut. (This is my wishful thinking because if I have to see Justice League‘s WonderBat on screen in any other capacity, so help me god I’m going to lose my mind.)

BUT, and here’s the kicker, the Flashpoint movie is still happening. Ah yes, Barry Allen and his love for his mother is going to come to mess with the timeline and create a different reality than the one our heroes in the DCEU know. So would that mean that maybe this world that Reeves is building becomes more of the canon for the DCEU in the future? Or are we going to remain in a totally parallel, separate place for all of The Batman films?

If so, we can call it the Reevesverse and get rid of the title of the DCEU and the stigma that surrounds it from recent Batmisfires. But, Flashpoint involvement or not, it also wouldn’t be out of left field if they let the Reeves verse bleed into the DCEU—much like how the DCEU is connected to the Arrowverse on the CW because of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” We assume they’ll be connected eventually if Pattinson’s Batman works out, but the emphasis on a “new Batman universe” across platforms means for the moment, he’s in a world apart.

The Batman is also going to be a big change from what we know because, in reality, it is the first time we’re seeing Bruce Wayne take on a lot of his iconic villains all at once. Sure, in the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films, we saw a range of important villains, but they were spread throughout four different movies. The Nolan trilogy pretty much kept it to one or two villains per film. But all the Gotham big baddies in one go? It both arouses and frightens me.

My love for The Batman already knows no bounds and now that I know it is a completely separate world, I’m interested to see just how different they’re going to make Bruce from the man Ben Affleck was crafting. That being said, I still don’t think that The Batman is going to remain separate from the greater DCEU for very long. I know how multiverses work!!!!

(via ComicBook.com, image: Warner Bros.)

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