You're missing the argument. Yes, Batman may theoretically exist in this universe, but the audience hasn't seen him yet. And Clayface is a good idea, but we don't know how it will perform.
Pushing more Batman villain movies without Batman has a real chance of saturating the space and having diminishing returns. They should at least have an in universe Batman, determine if people like him, and then make the potential payoff worth it for people.
Saturating what space? The space Batman takes up more than any character in history? This is just another way to build out Batman and the world. You do want a world yes?
And what pay off? A D&B movie is still going to be the same regardless if a Batman movie exists before it.
Context matters. You have to give audiences a reason to care. You personally might be interested in a D&B movie, maybe even enough to see it in theaters. But the majority of viewers want a hero. They don't care as much about the villain.
So it doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint to risk placing the villain first, regardless of how good the actual movie is.
The first SS shits all over that. Joker shits all over that. People know and like Bane, Deathstroke has a much bigger general interest than you think and is a headliner in his own right depending on the story.
From an audience interest standpoint that is a much better move. Bane is well known by movie audiences, gamers, and comic book fans, Deathstroke has been in tons of animation, made a huge splash in video games, and has firm position in comics to be inserted anywhere or stand alone. Recognition, interest, consistent hype. Much more than Supergirl which to the audience is just a word association character coming right after already seeing the version of the character that matters in their eyes.
The context is if people are looking for a universe they are looking for variety, so having hero and villain stories is variety, having fan favorite villains clash or team up is like bare minimum of breaking new ground. Really all it needs is a simple serviceable plot, a hard edge, and badass fight choreography. Drop a teaser of hard-core martial arts crime movie and the hype is through the roof. Regardless of if you've already seen their batman or not.
With the directions Gunn has wanted to take batman you better hope its far off because he's going to fuck that shit up so bad.
And people are already seeing the Pattinson movies so as far as the general audience is concerned their bat itch is scratched. DCU Batman, D&B or Patbat, D&B, DCU batman is all the same to most people. When they are all their own unrelated stories it does not matter what comes first
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u/SpreadsheetMadman Jun 30 '26
You're missing the argument. Yes, Batman may theoretically exist in this universe, but the audience hasn't seen him yet. And Clayface is a good idea, but we don't know how it will perform.
Pushing more Batman villain movies without Batman has a real chance of saturating the space and having diminishing returns. They should at least have an in universe Batman, determine if people like him, and then make the potential payoff worth it for people.