While the DCEU was busy tanking, Joker and The Batman, two films set outside of that universe, were earning critical and box office success. While there are sequels to both coming up, Matt Reeves is also busy with multiple spinoffs, such as Max series Penguin, along with another project set in Arkham Asylum. But with a new DCU coming from James Gunn and Peter Safran, where will Reeves’ characters fit? The answer is a bit surprising.
Gunn revealed on Threads that Reeves will continue to develop The Batman 2 and other projects set in that universe, but he will also have Arkham Asylum set within the rebooted DCU. That’s sorta odd to separate them.Ba
“We love Matt as a director and producer so he’ll be producing stories both within his ‘The Batman’ universe and within the DCU,” explained Gunn.
Gunn immediately shot down the suggestion by fans that the setting of Arkham Asylum had changed…
“It wasn’t changed,” said Gunn. “It was one of the first pitches we bought when Peter and I came onboard. I don’t know the permutations it went through before that time.”
Well, one of the “permutations” wasn’t that it would be set in a DCU that didn’t exist at the time. Gunn is playing coy with his words here, but here’s my take on it. Gunn is hedging his bets a little bit. Whether the DCU is a hit or not in the initial stages, he can pull in Reeves’ Bat-verse to give a boost, seeing as it’s a proven, popular commodity. He must know at some point that fans are going to want to see the Robert Pattinson Batman in the DCU and this makes that easier to do.
