James Gunn’s comments about the DCU’s Batman tone suggest the next live-action Dark Knight won’t be lighthearted, but that doesn’t mean The Brave and the Bold‘s main hero will need to be dark and realistic. Following the Man of Steel’s introduction in James Gunn’s Superman, DC Studios will focus on establishing a long list of characters, with special priority given to Batman and Wonder Woman. The DCU’s Batman will make his live-action debut in Andy Muschietti’s The Brave and the Bold, and Wonder Woman’s first DCU movie has officially been announced.

Expectations for Batman’s DCU debut are high, as Robert Pattinson’s Batman made a huge splash in Matt Reeves’ The Batman just a couple of years before James Gunn and Peter Safran launched the DCU. The Caped Crusader is also the most deeply explored character in DC lore, with at least thirteen actors playing Batman in live-action across eight decades. All previous iterations of Batman have set the bar quite high for the next big-screen iteration of the Dark Knight, who will need to stand out in the flourishing DCU.

James Gunn Confirmed The DCU’s Batman Won’t Be Campy

The DCU’s Won’t Follow In The Footsteps Of Adam West And George Clooney

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Matt Reeves’ The Batman franchise have both presented grounded and gritty interpretations of Batman and Gotham. Therefore, the DCU’s Batman needs to distinguish himself tonally and stylistically to avoid redundancy. One of the ways the DCU’s Batman could achieve this would involve a more lighthearted tone, which could draw from the Silver and Bronze Age eras of Batman’s comic book history, when Batman fought colorful villains, teamed up with a young Robin, and operated in a more vibrant, stylized Gotham. This part of Batman lore encompᴀsses multiple decades’ worth of light and humorous material.

However, James Gunn has clarified that the DCU’s Batman will not be “campy.” This confirmation rules out the theory that the next Batman will be a direct adaptation of DC Comics’ Silver Age Batman, who usually wore a vibrant blue-and-gray cloth costume. Other possible lighthearted sources of inspiration, like the animated The Brave and the Bold show, likely won’t be a blueprint for Andy Muschietti’s The Brave and the Bold film or any of Batman’s subsequent DCU appearances.

Tim Burton’s Batman (& Its Sequel) Found The Balance Between Dark And Lighthearted

Tim Burton Reached A Unique Tone For Batman Long Before Nolan And Reeves

Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns may seem extravagant by modern standards, but they established a distinctive tone that’s dark and highly stylized, but not cartoonish or hyperrealistic. Burton’s gothic style suits Batman perfectly, as Batman, his rogue gallery, and all of Gotham feel ripped straight out of a nightmarish comic book. Characters like Jack Nicholson’s Joker, Danny DeVito’s Penguin, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman aren’t realistic by any means, but they’re believable and even terrifying figures within the context of the movies.

Naturally, Tim Burton’s Batman movies are showing their age three decades later. But a modern take on a similar style could differentiate the DCU’s Batman from Nolan’s and Reeves’. This is a delicate line to walk, as Joel Schumacher pushed Burton’s aesthetic too far in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, which went overboard and led Batman to make a hard pivot for Christopher Nolan’s ultra-realistic Batman Begins. In fact, Tim Burton’s style was considered too dark for young audience in 1991, which was precisely what led Burton’s third Batman movie to be canceled and replaced with Joel Schumacher’s campier take.

The DCU’s Batman Not Being Lighthearted Doesn’t Mean The Character Must Resemble His Previous Three Adaptations

Realistic Or Campy Aren’t The Only Options For The DCU’s Batman

The pendulum of Batman’s movie tone has swung drastically throughout the years, but there are many other possible paths for Batman adaptations. Instead of returning to either of the two extremes, the ideal formula for a fresh Batman adaptation might be found in the middle, between Batman’s larger-than-life nature and his relative realism in a world inhabited by metahumans. A gothic but lifelike Batman wouldn’t clash with Robert Pattinson’s neo-noir portrayal or come across as childish, like Adam West and George Clooney’s iterations of the Dark Knight.