James Gunn Clarifies Planned Batman, Superman Age Difference for DCU

Gunn shot down reports that he had zeroed in on an age for the DC Universes' Dark Knight

By Russ Burlingame

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn took to Threads over the weekend to clarify comments he made about plans for the upcoming DC Universe movie, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The premise of the movie, which will reportedly feature Batman as a father, operating with his son Damian as Robin, has led some fans to assume Bruce Wayne will be noticeably older than Clark Kent in the new DC Universe. Gunn was recently quoted (presumably from his Creature Commandos presentation at Annecy Animation Festival) as saying he planned to cast a Batman who is slightly older than Superman -- but denied having said it exactly that way.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't say that," Gunn posted. "What I said was Bruce 'could be' a couple years older than Clark. All I meant was I wasn't tied to Bruce and Clark being the exact same age."

In Superman, the title character will be played by David Corenswet, who is 30 years old. Gunn says that casting for Batman hasn't even started yet, and obviously fans don't really know how old Damian Wayne will be in the movie. While it makes the most sense to cast a teenager for the part, the comics have had Damian acting as a vigilante as young as ten years old.

The age (and lifestyle) discrepancies between Superman and Batman are primarily interesting because Super-Sons -- stories featuring Damian Wayne's Robin and Jonathan Kent's Superboy -- have become popular in the last decade or so. There are comics, original graphic novels, and even an animated feature film that pairs the two popular teen heroes, and it makes at least some sense that Warner Bros. and DC might want to explore that onscreen. So far, there is no indication that Superman and Lois Lane will have a child in Superman.

The age difference between Superman and Batman was a key aspect of the DC Extended Universe -- the colloquial nickname given to Zack Snyder's live-action DC Universe, which eventually became quasi-official. In Man of Steel, Henry Cavill (then 29) was playing a version of Superman who seemed even a few years younger than himself. When Bruce Wayne was introduced in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Ben Affleck played him with a world-weariness that made Bruce Wayne feel a older than Affleck's 42.

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The age difference in Batman v Superman was driven, at least in part, by Snyder's desire to adapt The Dark Knight Returns, a comic that is explicitly about an aging Batman dealing with a world that has largely left him behind.

Besides Superman and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Gunn and co-CEO David Safran's DC Studios is rolling out films based on Supergirl (coming in 2026), Swamp Thing, Teen Titans, and The Authority. TV shows from the studio will include Lanterns (a Green Lantern series), Booster Gold, Waller, and Peacemaker.

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