Warner Bros.Clayface has reignited speculation that Robert Pattinson’s caped crusader will become the DCU’s Batman – and James Gunn could apply Peacemaker’s rules so that it makes sense.
Ever since Gunn announced the first ‘Gods and Monsters’ phase of the new DC Universe, he’s maintained that Matt Reeves’ and Pattinson’s Batman would be considered an Elseworlds property. In other words, it’s not part of the main DCU continuity, which means they need to find a ‘canon’ Batman.
Except… he’s also said things are “in flux”, and Reeves earlier said a merge would come down to “whether or not it makes sense.”
Firstly, it does make sense (I’ve explained why Pattinson should be the DCU’s Batman). Secondly, Gunn could employ the same trick used by Peacemaker to retroactively make most of The Batman canon.
The Batman could be canon in the DCU with this Peacemaker trick
Warner Bros.The first season of Peacemaker is technically classified as a DCEU project, particularly due to the Justice League’s cameo in the finale. In Season 2’s opening recap, Gunn replaced Aquaman and co. with the Justice Gang and tinkered with small bits of dialogue; it’s as if they were never there in the first place.
Gunn’s approach to the DCU canon is simple: “It’s whatever we mention in anything,” he explained to Collider.
“There are references to things that happened in the past. And those references then become canon in the DCU because we mention them.”
Everything in The Suicide Squad isn’t canon, but Peacemaker killing Rick Flag Jr, the mission in Corto Maltese, and any other mentions of events in the film are canon, because they’ve been brought up in the DCU.
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So, where does Pattinson’s Batman come in? Well, the Clayface set in Liverpool has raised some eyebrows, given that The Batman was filmed in the same city, it used some of the same locations, and there are already notable overlaps.
For example, the Gotham Gazette logo appears to be incredibly similar, Gotham City’s motto (“Sic Parvis Magna”) is the same, and a newspaper article spotted on the set mentions Bliss, a “party drug sweeping through the hottest cubs” in the city – which also happens to be the same of the drug that Oz sold in The Penguin.
But what about the police having different logos and car designs, I hear you ask? Police departments can rebrand themselves, and considering Gotham’s reputation for corruption and its Mayor Bella Reál trying to crack down on crooked cops, it’s possible she ordered a fresh lick of paint across the department to cover up the dirt of the past regime.
Audiences have already accepted the erasure of the Justice League. Do you think they’re going to care about slight aesthetic differences between The Batman and the DCU’s version of Gotham if it retains the spirit of Reeves’ vision?
If Reeves agreed, Clayface could include a cameo from Robert Pattinson’s Batman, The Batman Part 2 could be a DCU movie, and everything in the ‘ReevesVerse’ would be considered canon from that point on, and any time a project mentions something from The Batman, that would also become canon.
It’s too early to write it off, and we won’t know for sure until Clayface hits theaters on September 11, 2026. In the meantime, check out our breakdown of every upcoming DCU project and our ranking of the best superhero movies of all time.