Is Jensen Ackles Playing Batman? DC's James Gunn Responds To Casting Rumors
The rumor mill has been going into overdrive as the DCU begins to fire up for its first round of releases. Though details and cast members for "Creature Commandos" and "Superman: Legacy" are the only things we've received 100% confirmation on, that, of course, hasn't stopped the rampant fan speculation about the other projects listed as part of the DCU's slate.
Case in point: an unofficial X (formerly Twitter) account for "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" revealed a rumored cast list for the upcoming film. "RUMOR 'THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD,'" it reads. "Jensen Ackles to play Batman/Bruce Wayne, Javon Walton to play Robin/Damian Wayne, Wolfgang Novogratz to play Nightwing/Dick Grayson, Clancy Brown to play Alfred Pennyworth." Ackles has long been connected to the role. The actor was almost cast as the Dark Knight in CW's short-lived "Gotham Knights" and is currently voicing the iconic character in the latest string of DC animated movies.
Fortunately for fans, DCU mastermind James Gunn is as vigilant as ever when it comes to shooting down these false casting reports. When another fan asked on Threads if the rumor was true, Gunn immediately put any doubt to rest, saying that it was not. "There's no script yet," he wrote. "Ofc it's false."
There's more Batman than ever as the DCU marches onward
While this statement shows pretty emphatically that no casting has been done yet for "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," fans will have more than their fair share of The Caped Crusader as new DC movies continue to come down the pipeline.
From Matt Reeves' "The Batman Part 2" to "Joker: Folie a Deux," there is no shortage of upcoming Batman-related stories before "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" finally arrives. However, even with that in mind, the DCU film will at least take a different tack from the many other iterations we've seen of The Dark Knight thus far.
As the casting rumor above correctly mentions, Damian Wayne has been confirmed to be a part of "Batman: The Brave and the Bold." For those who are unfamiliar with the character, Damian is Batman's son with love interest and villain Talia al Ghul. Raised as a part of the League of Shadows, his relationship with his father is troubled at best and chaotic at worst.
Considering how many times we've seen the character of Robin as a plucky sidekick, this new take on the character will undoubtedly help to shake up fans' perception of Batman's second-in-command. Heck, they could even make the character cool on the big screen for once. Still, don't automatically assume Javon Walton of "Euphoria" and "The Umbrella Academy" will take on the role. Though, to be fair, the actor does have a serious boxing background, and as fans know, Damian Wayne loves throwing hands.