Robert Pattinson Says It Would Be ‘Tough’ for His Batman to Exist Within James Gunn’s DCU

Superman and Batman might be one of the DC Universe’s most famous partnerships, but Robert Pattinson is officially ending speculation that his take on Bruce Wayne would fit in the cinematic world created by James Gunn.

“I think it would be kind of tough to have this version of Bruce outside of that world,” Pattinson told LADbible. “It’s one of the only characters, I guess, because of the length of the shoots, but also it’s such a specific kind of [style]; the tone of it gets inside you. I remember that happened to me the last time I did it, it took a while. You’re just in the dark the whole time. Both mood-wise and light-wise, I can’t see anything for like months. It does affect you, like you feel strange afterwards.”

Audiences were first introduced to Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” in 2022, which offered a distinctly darker take on the comic book character than previous films. “Where do you go after ‘The Dark Knight’? Ben Affleck blew it, and even Christopher Nolan, who brought unprecedented levels of realism and gravitas to that franchise-best Batman saga, couldn’t improve on what he’d created in his 2012 sequel,” wrote Variety’s Peter Debruge in his review of the film. “So what is ‘Cloverfield’ director Matt Reeves’ strategy? Answer: Go darker than ‘The Dark Knight,’ deadlier than ‘No Time to Die’ and longer than ‘Dune’ with a serious-minded Batman stand-alone of his own.”

By contrast, Gunn’s “Superman,” released in 2025, was a lighter take on the character. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote that “the new movie isn’t ‘dark’ (Zack Snyder’s ambitious mistake) so much as it’s a loopy, spinning, multifaceted story with genuine emotional stakes.”

“The Batman Part II” is set to hit theaters on Feb. 18, 2028.