Batman is coming to the new DC Universe, but while the Dark Knight does not make his live-action debut in the shared universe, several characters from Batman’s corner of DC Comics have already been confirmed for the DCU, with more teased. Batman is one of the most important characters to get right for the DCU, if not the absolute most important.
That is why the topic of who will play the DCU’s Batman has become so popular, with fan-favorite candidates going from older stars like Alan Ritchson and Jensen Ackles to Hollywood rising stars like Brandon Sklenar and Tom Brittney. For now, DC Studios continues to work on the script for Batman’s new solo movie, The Brave and the Bold, which has yet to set a release date.
The franchise continues to be delayed due to Matt Reeves’ The Batman – Part II issues, as that Elseworlds DC movie has switched dates multiple times, with it now having been confirmed that the director is dealing with a complicated personal issue, which has led to Steven Soderbergh stepping in to finish the shoot. That said, Robert Pattinson’s Batman is not crossing over to the DCU.
Before getting into who has already been confirmed from Batman’s corner of DC characters for the shared universe, it is important to note that players like The Joker, Black Mask, and more have been teased in Easter Eggs. Additionally, DC Studios has yet to officially comment on Savage Hunters, the reported title for a DCU movie starring Bane and Deathstroke, two Batman villains. As such, the following are the Batman characters who have already appeared in the DCU or been officially confirmed for the franchise:
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Dr. Phosphorus
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Image via Max
Dr. Phosphorus is one of the Batman characters on the list to have gotten the most development in the DCU Chapter One, as he was one of the main players of HBO Max’s animated Creature Commandos season 1. Voiced by Alan Tudyk, Dr. Phosphorus was one of the Belle Reve prisoners recruited for Rick Flag Sr. and Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad replacement, Task Force M, aka the Creature Commandos, going to a foreign nation to save its princess from the Wonder Woman villain Circe. Through flashbacks, Dr. Phosphorus’ rise as a crime boss in Gotham City and run-in with Batman were revealed.
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Rupert Thorne
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Image via Max
Rupert Thorne also showed up in the animated Creature Commandos, being directly tied to Dr. Phosphorus’ tragic origin story, as the Gotham mob boss was responsible for having Dr. Alexander Sartorius’ family killed and for giving the character his radioactive skeleton, effectively turning Sartorius into Dr. Phosphorus, by locking him inside a nuclear fusion chamber. For his role in destroying the Creature Commandos member’s life, Thorne, his wife, and the couple’s two children were murdered by Dr. Phosphorus, who got his revenge and took over Thorner’s criminal empire before Batman showed up to stop him.
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Orca has not really done anything of note in the DCU so far, but the Batman villain has already shown up in the flesh, as the character made a cameo appearance in a crowd scene inside Belle Reve in the animated Creature Commandos. Given how the HBO Max animated series has been renewed for season 2, which is expected to be released at some point in 2027, there is a chance that Orca will return with a bigger role. In DC Comics, Orca is a Batman villain who becomes a human-animal hybrid through a serum meant to heal her paralysis after an accident.
7
White Rabbit
White Rabbit is another DC character who has already shown up in Gunn’s DCU, but different from the prior entries, she appeared in a live-action series. White Rabbit was played by Brey Noelle in Peacemaker season 2, being one of the characters who audition to join Maxwell Lord’s Justice Gang. Going right before John Cena’s Peacemaker, she does not get the job and leaves the audition crying after a microphone problem allowed her to hear Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, Sean Gunn’s Lord, and Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl mocking her, with Guy particularly saying harsh things. White Rabbit is a minor Batman villain in the comics.
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Kite Man
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While all the other Batman characters on the list so far have appeared in the DCU in some form, Kite Man is the first to be confirmed to have yet to debut in live-action or animation. Kite Man’s DCU existence was confirmed by Cena’s Christopher Smith in Peacemaker season 2’s recap of canon events with the show’s move from the DCEU to Gunn’s new franchise. Talking to kids in a classroom, Peacemaker tells them that he defeated Kite Man, making it a bigger deal than it really is, as he props up the Batman character as “one of the world’s most dangerous villains.”
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Sasha Bordeaux
Sasha Bordeaux is another Batman character confirmed for the DCU in Peacemaker season 2, played by Sol Rodríguez in the live-action DC TV show. Bordeaux was introduced as an A.R.G.U.S. agent and Rick Flag Sr.’s right hand, with the two also intimately involved, though Bordeaux ends up leaving Flag behind when she disagrees with his methods in the character’s search for revenge against Peacemaker, which include turning to Superman nemesis Lex Luthor for help. At the end of Peacemaker season 2, Bordeaux, now revealed as a cyborg, sides with the good guys, joining Peacemaker’s team at Checkmate, though Cena’s character gets sent to another universe.
4
Clayface
Clayface made his DCU debut in animated form as a monster fighting Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. and David Harbour’s Eric Frankenstein in Creature Commandos, where he was eventually defeated, but not killed. More recently, the character became one of the few to lead a DCU movie thus far, making the jump to live-action with Tom Rhys Harries playing Matt Hagen, an actor who has his face cut to pieces by a Gotham mob boss and his goons, eventually getting shape-shifting powers and pursuing revenge. As such, Clayface’s origin story and his DCU future have been shown already.
3
Barbara Gordon
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Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, has yet to debut in the DCU, but the character was teased in Lanterns season 1, when Sheriff Kane said on the phone, “Tell Barb I said hey.” While the HBO series never outright confirmed that Kerry was talking about Barbara Gordon, the HBO Max UK account on Instagram confirmed the Batgirl Easter Egg in a Lanterns video with other references to DC characters like Batman, Starro, Mogo, and more. Beyond the fact that Barbara Gordon exists in the DCU, details on whether she is Batgirl, Oracle, or neither have yet to be confirmed by DC.
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Damian Wayne
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Damian Wayne is one of the characters who were announced for the DC Universe back when the DCU Chapter One slate was revealed in 2023. Damian, aka Bruce Wayne’s biological son, will make his live-action debut in Batman’s The Brave and the Bold movie, which will focus on that key relationship as Batman finds out that he has a son who was raised as an assassin “for the first eight to ten years of his life,” as Gunn said on the DCU slate reveal. A deceased Robin, presumably Damian Wayne, appeared in a vision of dead heroes in Creature Commandos season 1.
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Batman
Finally, Batman himself has already shown up in the DCU, as the Dark Knight had a non-speaking cameo in Creature Commandos as he arrived to stop Dr. Phosphorus in his origin story flashbacks, with Batman also among the dead heroes in the vision of a possible future Circe showed Amanda Waller. In live-action, the DCU Batman is expected to make his franchise debut in The Brave and the Bold, though with so many casting rumors and the fact that 2027’s Man of Tomorrow will feature several heroes, potentially even Wonder Woman, maybe DC’s new Batman is coming around sooner than expected.
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