Chris Pratt (Jurassic World: Dominion) won’t be brooding under the cowl anytime soon. James Gunn, co-chair of DC Studios, has shut down speculation that his longtime Marvel collaborator is destined to play Batman in the new DC Universe (DCU).
Asked directly in an interview with YouTuber PelucheEn ElEstuche, Gunn made it clear Pratt isn’t on the table for Gotham’s vigilante. But when pressed on whether the actor could appear in another role, his response was far more playful: “As something else? Yes.”
The comment comes as no surprise given Pratt’s close ties to Gunn, having starred in all three Guardians of the Galaxy films as Star-Lord, along with Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Yet his Marvel future remains a question mark. Pratt’s name was notably absent from Marvel’s early Avengers: Doomsday announcement, a moment he later laughed off with Collider:
“I don’t know! I think it was, like, far off. They must have cut away from it. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know. It was there. I’m sure it was there.”
Marvel has hinted that additional casting news is still to come, leaving the door open for Pratt to potentially balance both superhero universes. Meanwhile, Batman continues to be the DCU’s thorniest problem. Gunn has been candid about the challenges of introducing a new Dark Knight while Matt Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga moves forward separately with Robert Pattinson. “Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now,” Gunn admitted earlier this year while promoting Superman.
That new Batman will headline The Brave and the Bold, a film that both Gunn and co-CEO Peter Safran have described as “very active” in development. While Gunn isn’t penning the script himself, he stressed, “I’m very, very actively involved in that script. I am working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman.”
Gunn also teased the kind of Batman he’s aiming to deliver. “Batman has to have a reason for existing, right? So Batman can’t just be, ‘Oh, we’re making a Batman movie because Batman’s the biggest character in all of Warner Bros.,’ which he is. But because there’s a need for him in the DCU… But yet he’s not a campy Batman. I’m not interested in that. I’m not interested in a funny, campy Batman, really. So we’re dealing with that. I think I have a way in, by the way. I think I really know what it’s — I just am dealing with the writer to make sure that we can make it a reality.”
As the DCU maps out its vision of the Caped Crusader, Pratt’s next confirmed gig is a lighter one: reprising his voice role as Mario, after his first outing in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), in the coming The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, which will be due out next year.
Conversation with Ting Wei is like chatting with a weird AI bot programmed only with One Piece lore and theories, sitcom quotes and other miscellaneous pop culture references. When he’s not sleeping, he’s highly likely reading manga. In fact, the only thing he reads more than manga is the Bible, and it’s honestly pretty close.
