HOT TAKE: Brave and the Bold should be the first DCU Movie in Chapter 2
After seeing how Brave and the Bold is stagnating in progress, here is my take on why I think it should be delayed to Chapter 2:
This could be downvoted to oblivion or not, so who knows.
Batman is a character that doesn’t necessarily need a movie for an introduction into the universe. He’s as much of a hero as Darth Vader is of a villain, where both can just show up and have some kind of role in the story (maybe aura farm here and there) and nobody would complain. After we get a Justice League movie (which is becoming more and more likely), wouldn’t it be cool to start off strong with a Batman movie as the first movie to start off Chapter 2 in the DCU?
The Brave and Bold has shown not a lot of progress, which is a bit bizarre since Batman is the cashcow of the heroes in the DC Universe. It’d honestly be best if they took a lot of time to properly craft a fantastical Batman who translates perfectly to live action by delaying his movie to kick off Chapter 2 and teasing us with the character in parts of Chapter 1.
There’s also Robert Pattinson, who is THE BATMAN in the eyes of the general audience now. Whether or not it would confuse audiences would matter in a way so delaying Brave and the Bold to Chapter 2 would ease up on the idea of having 2 Batmen in the movies since it would give Matt Reeves more time to complete his Batman movies.
There’s also the idea of what kind of Batman that the DCU is looking for, who is a Batman with at least a 10 year career and has Damian Wayne for a Robin. The only issue is there’s a chance that we’ll miss some key moments and stories DC could’ve done with Batman, especially if Damian is Robin since he is the most recent Robin and thus we would likely skip a Robin (poor Tim Drake) just to make Batman not THAT close to middle age. Personally, I would’ve done Jason since he would truly show Batman’s parenting skills (it’s successes and faults) and Jason Todd Robin has only been done once in DC Media (technically twice) compared to Damian, who was the main Robin in the DCAMU.
Batman has just been milked by DC so hard because they didn’t have the confidence, money, and public support to utilize pretty much every single DC Property except for Superman and the Flash (which was carried by the TV Show). There is a whole plethora of Movies, TV Shows, Video Games, and other sources of media that are all Batman or Batman-based compared to other big time DC Characters like Wonder Woman and the Flash. Only Superman measures up to Batman in media but 70% never in popularity.
DC is in a different position now. They can experiment on projects while building up and having the confidence, money, and public support to do things they couldn’t have done 10 years ago because they're making good quality level Movies and TV Shows. They don’t need Batman much in the spotlight to keep them afloat. He can share it with others while also not diluting the character’s prestige.
If they want to do something with Batman in the DCU, do a Batman that we haven’t seen before in DC Media in order for him to stand out cuz I don’t want a 1:1 DCAMU Batman in live action (even though I like that version). I don't really care who they cast, but I hope whoever casts him can also be very believable for a father figure role since that's what this Batman needs tbh.
TLDR: Brave and the Bold should be delayed because it's more convenient to start it off in Chapter 2, Robert Pattinson is THE BATMAN for now, and it's time for DC to stop prioritizing Batman.