While DC’s new slate of films for the first chapter of their rebooted universe, entitled “Gods and Monsters”, has been released, many fans are still wondering what some of the most major announcements mean for the direction that the cinematic universe of DC Comics is heading.
The Brave and the Bold is one of the few huge film announcements that brought fans something they actually expected. Namely, a new Batman film that will finally begin expanding further on the Batman mythology and world of his own. The DC Universe expansion means that some of the many Batman characters beyond himself and Damian Wayne need to be brought to the big screen.
6 Dick Grayson / Nightwing
While the DCU may be skipping right past the point where Dick Grayson was Robin to Bruce Wayne’s Batman, that doesn’t mean that this part of Batman’s history never happened. Audiences are used to seeing Dick Grayson as Robin, however, an advanced version of Dick, already having come into his own and broken away from Bruce, could be seen on the big screen for the first time in The Brave And The Bold.
Essentially acting as an older brother to Damian Wayne, an appearance from a character like Dick Grayson may serve to highlight the storied history that Batman has with taking young wards under his wing. The difference is that Damian is his actual son and this makes the entire situation for Bruce different from how it was for Dick or anybody else he has taken under his wing. It would be fascinating to see, could expand the DCU quickly with recognizable faces, and maybe even lead into a spin-off swiftly.
5 Barbara Gordon / Oracle
Barbara Gordon has a tragic history in DC Comics, involving a brutal attack from the Joker which left her in a wheelchair and unable to carry on the role of Batgirl, which she’d held up to that point. Barbara, being the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, is an easy character to at least introduce into the DCU even though her own big-screen adventure was scrapped due to the Warner Bros Discovery merger.
Barbara and her oracle persona, where she becomes “the guy in the chair” for Batman and his allies, is a hugely valuable character. Even if she is only introduced as the young daughter of Gordon in her earlier days, The Brave And The Bold seems like the right time to get started on a wider Bat-verse, which inevitably will include Barbara in some form.
4 Selina Kyle / Catwoman
Catwoman has already been seen numerous times in Batman cinematic history, albeit she isn’t always an ally. Between Michelle Pfeiffer, Anne Hathaway and most recently Zoe Kravitz, big-screen versions of Bruce Wayne are often accompanied by their own Selina Kyle, making it hugely likely that she will reappear in the DCU at some point.
Whether that point is during The Brave And The Bold remains to be seen. She may not fit in, but a different sort of ally in Selina Kyle could be a valuable thing for the film to introduce. Catwoman is one of the most recognizable faces in the Bat family to mainstream audiences, so she is an easy place to start for a DCU that will have an awful lot of characters to introduce early on.
3 Jason Todd / Robin
Jason Todd is a member of the Bat family that will surely have to be introduced at some stage in the DCU. Whether Bruce and Damian are haunted by the past of Jason’s death through flashbacks, or whether he actually appears in some form, there is no way that the DCU never ventures through the traumatic story of the Robin who was killed by the Joker, and subsequently brought back as the anti-heroic Red Hood.
Jason could be another choice for a big brother figure to Damian as a past Robin or a villainous presence that takes offense from Bruce taking on Damian as a new Robin after allowing his own tragic fate to befall him.
2 Katherine Kane / Batwoman
Batwoman is a character that doesn’t get as much recognition as many of the others in the Bat family roster, but she is definitely deserving of it. Katherine Kane has been seen in her own show for a while, but hasn’t had an outing on the big screen, and she could be a fresh character to give the new DCU and Bat Family an added boost.
She could easily provide for Bruce with a different sort of relationship to the unusual one he has with Catwoman or the standard mentor/mentee relationships he has with most of the rest of the Bat Family. A character like her could be hugely valuable to the film and the DCU.
1 Stephanie Brown / Batgirl
Even if The Brave And The Bold decided to make Barbara Gordon in her Oracle form, there is nothing stopping the film and DCU additionally having a new, different Batgirl. Stephanie Brown is a well-known DC character and her story, the daughter of a lower-class villain who takes on the superhero persona “Spoiler” to try and stop her father, could lead into her time as Batgirl in a fascinating and unique way.
This could give The Brave And The Bold the perfect character for a young, rebellious Damian Wayne to go out and team up with, trying to fight crime apart from his father. Stephanie could be a great youthful presence for a burgeoning DCU for years to come.