Fan CastingThe Brave and the Bold

The film explores members of the "Bat-Family", including introducing Batman's son Damian Wayne as a version of Robin. Gunn said the film would be a "strange father and son story" about Batman and Robin.[5][42] After Gunn and Safran were hired, Zaslav said of their new plan for the DCU, "There's not going to be four Batmans".[35] In December 2022, Gunn said Batman would be "a big part of the DCU".[73] When Gunn and Safran unveiled the first projects from their DCU slate a month later they included The Brave and the Bold which introduces the DCU version of Batman. Gunn said the film was based on Grant Morrison's 2006 to 2013 run on the comics.[5][42] Ben Affleck was confirmed to not be reprising his DCEU role of Batman,[39] while Matt Reeves's version of Batman was expected to continue separately from the DCU's version under the DC Elseworlds label.[42] The Flash director Andy Muschietti was hired to direct the film in June 2023,[59] with Barbara Muschietti co-producing alongside Gunn and Safran.[59]