Dave Bautista says James Gunn is starting the DC universe “from scratch”
Dave Bautista wants to play Bane, but he realizes James Gunn's DC Universe is a young man's game
Aux News James Gunn
With the DC Universe falling apart one controversy at a time, there’s never been a better opening for James Gunn and fellow DC boss Peter Safran to shake things up. Everyone is waiting to see what Gunn does with the reins. Fans are proposing theories; congressmen are demanding answers; actors are pitching themselves on big characters. Unfortunately, Dave Bautista is one of the multiple actors who failed to get his DC pitch off the ground, but he has no hard feelings toward his Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 director.
“I have had conversations with James about that but I think the direction he’s leaning in, completely rebooting that whole universe, he’s starting from scratch and starting younger and fresher and I think you need to do that,” Bautista tells Insider in a new interview. “I think for the DC Universe to be revived, you need to start from scratch, and I think you need to start with younger actors. You need to start to plan for the next 15 years, and I just don’t think you can do that with me. And I understand that.”
One can be forgiven for any confusion about DC rebooting from “scratch,” because even the previous regime’s slate hasn’t fully been scratched. We’ve still got a Shazam! movie on the horizon and the infamous Flash film later this year (and Jason Momoa says he’ll “always be Aquaman”). Then there’s Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe, which is so far separate from the greater DCU and spawning its own spin-offs. Plus, Joker: Folie À Deux, which is its own thing, and a slew of unconnected animated projects. The reboot is not exactly as encompassing as these comments would make it seem.
All this to say, there’s surely room for Bautista to play Bane somewhere in the multiverse. But, he says, “I have to say that I appreciate that because I don’t want to play a character that I can’t bring justice to it. I don’t think at this point in my career that I can bring justice to Bane anymore.” (Bautista last spoke about pitching himself as Bane in 2021.) “I just don’t know if I could handle the physical part, and I don’t think I would have the longevity to plan ahead for films. So, I just don’t know if I’d be that guy.”
For his part, Gunn has debunked some rumors, but he hasn’t actually ruled anyone out. “We have hundreds of roles to cast. As I’ve always done, some will be brand new faces, some will be actors I’ve worked with before, & some will be actors you know who I’ve never worked with,” he wrote on Twitter. “What matters most is the actor fits the role & they’re easy to work with.”
49 Comments
Would like to see Bautista in the new DCU, wondering who he could play as an older, still jacked man… I mean, if everything is in play… He kinda has the physique of the Dark Knight Returns Bruce Wayne…It’d be kind of a waste to make him like Kilowag or something, and I’m sure he doesn’t want to sit for hours in makeup again.
Vandal Savage. He totally, absolutely, should play Vandal Savage.
Ah yeah, that’s a good one. I just have such bad memories of the Vandal Savage they had on Legends of Tomorrow, who was basically sleazy bearded guy from Die Hard.
Actually, if he would do another heavy makeup/CGI role, he be killer as Darkseid too.
Check out Vandal Savage in Young Justice, he’s WAY more of a badass.
who was basically sleazy bearded guy from Die Hard.
You mean, the great Alan Rickman?
God, no! The “Hans… bubbie!” guy.
Ellis. Don’t be like Ellis. Such a douche.
Oh, my bad… I totally forgot that douche existed!
Perfect.
I never would have thought of him for Vandal Savage, but now I really want to see that.He sounds burned out on franchises, though.
However, I’d bet that James Gunn could make a movie about Kilowog and the Green Lantern Corp work. I mean, consider Guardians!
What sucks is that he could definitely make G’Nort or Ch’p work, but that’s probably too close to Rocket.
Yeah, likely!
Being old wouldn’t be a problem if he was a Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne either.
Yes yes yes yes
he’d be a fine hugo strange if he absolutely must be in batman.
Hugo Strange is where I wanna put my money, nutter wants to fix Batman and also be Batman. I think Bautista can do it, that would be thrilling. Patt’s Bats seeing a Swol Therapist only to have it revealed that this guy is full tilt bonkers.
Bautista DOES seem to like roles where the characters where tiny glasses, so that could totally work. But when did they make Hugo Strange so jacked? I thought he was just a nerdy little dude.
He’s been that since his 70s revival — his obsession with replacing the Batman included the necessary bodybuilding.
Manbat?NB I don’t know anything about comics. Is there a character with an incredibly muscular scalp?
Dr. Psycho?
I was kinda thinking Wildcat could be a good fit. Older, jacked, usually portrayed as an older mentor, and it’s a role that wouldn’t require a lot of crazy makeup work.
Wildcat does seem like the kind of character Gunn would love to use. Then again, who knows, maybe he only used these C-list characters because that’s all Marvel would let him do at first.
Seriously though, Gunn… where are all those dang announcements? This was supposed to help get me through Fuck You, It’s January. Instead I’ve gotta subsist on weekly “Avatar 2 made money” updates and dried up M3gan discourse
Is it the discourse you’re referring to as dried up? If not, please elabourate.
Harley Quinn Bane is the only Bane that’s real to me now.
I love Bang.
Once again Dave Bautista proves himself to be one of the most self-aware, realistic, humble and level-headed A-listers working today. May his career be long, successful and varied
He would have made a great Bane too, but yeah, that ship has sailed.
Waaay closer in appearance and physicality than Tom Hardy (who I thought did a passable job, silly voice aside)
I like how they keep the silly voice for the Harley Quinn cartoon.
Do they? Lol. I haven’t seen it.
Not even close to A list…
Even a young universe would need some old characters. Maybe he could play Alfred.
That would be awesome. Even if it was just one movie. And played straight.
“DC Universe is a young man’s game”So is it superhero babies movies just like muppet babies?
Glad DC is finally realizing what Marvel did as they were heading in to Endgame. You need a fresh slate of young stars to replace aging (and increasingly more expensive) actors.Especially as the audience for your movies ages. Harry Styles is a risky casting decision, but a great idea to draw attention to an otherwise D-List Marvel character…and if it catches on you’ve got his audience interested in the movie on his name alone.They plucked a literal nobody out of the casting pool for Kamala Khan and it’s been a hit. If they do right by that character they’ve got a potential star locked down for a good chunk of time.
They actually like to be called DCEU instead of DCU. It’s important we respect their preferences.
That was never actually used by DC, it came from an article making an joke that was unclear enough that everyone took at face value.
What’s funny about ‘DC Extended Universe’?
personally i would like to see bautista keep taking interesting, challenging roles and stay far, far away from shirtless franchise work.
Condiment King is one that could last him the rest of his career.
Re-invention of comic book source material has Always been one of the Biggest problems with modern comic universe films. I’d love to hear a film maker say, “I plan to be true to the comic Source Material.”There is a reason Comic films are so popular – the source material. People love the best examples of comic source material. And? Comic books do the storyboard for the film maker. It’s already there. Of course a film should have its own storyboard, but why not draw inspiration straight from the best examples of a comic’s source material? If comic movies had shown this loyalty to the original fans, I might be more accepting of completely original stories at some point. But the way most comic films exploit these characters by ignoring the original source material is generally disappointing, and I don’t want to hear about more re-invention.
Comics are basically built on reinvention. So, which “source material” should they be true to? Silver Age Superman? Golden Age Flash? Crisis on Infinite Earths? The New 52? Rebirth?
I’d just love if they set the redo back to a pulpy 20’s-30’s setting.
I understand where Bautista is coming from, but except from his own side of the equation – not wanting to commit to demands of such a role at his age – I can’t see why he couldn’t play Bane. There’s nothing hardwired in canon -in comics or movies – saying Bane has to be around the same age of Bruce Wayne. In fact I think Bautista, as an older but still jacked up beast Bane would be the perfect match for Pattinson’s younger version of Batman. And since this version is mores “serious” and grounded, I think it could suit very well the current style of Bautista, looking for more cerebral roles.
*shrug*Sorry. All the drama has long since poisoned the DC movies for me. Reboot, remake, reimagine, you do you. I’ve given up caring – and you have fucking Superman on your team.