Batman Fans Think They've Found The Perfect Bruce Wayne For James Gunn's DC Universe

With James Gunn's DC Universe in full swing, fans are eager to see what this universe's version of Batman will look like. Paul Anthony Kelly, who portrays John F. Kennedy Jr. in Ryan Murphy's "Love Story," is the latest suggestion from a corner of the Bat-verse, which is abuzz with talk of how this newcomer should play the next cinematic Dark Knight.

Boosted by the charming crowd-pleaser that was 2025's "Superman," the DC Universe is fully up and running. Now, Gunn has the opportunity to finally take Batman where he's never been before. In order to do so, however, he'll need to lean into the character's rich history of horror-tinged stories that present the Dark Knight as a cryptid. Will he actually do that? Probably not. This is the man who managed to turn the Man of Steel into a goofy little guy, after all.

Does that mean we'll be seeing a lighthearted Caped Crusader in the DCU? Perhaps. But at this stage, nobody really knows what Gunn plans to do with Batman. Naturally, that means there have been plenty of fan theories and online wish lists. For a long time, Batman fans were convinced "Reacher" star Alan Ritchson would don the cape and cowl. (Indeed, /Film listed all the reasons why Ritchson needed to play Batman.) Thus far, however, Gunn has not committed to who will play the role in the upcoming "The Brave and the Bold" movie, which has yet to receive a concrete release date. If he goes with Kelly, however, not only does it seem as though he'll make a lot of fans happy, he'll have secured a Bruce Wayne that differs significantly from Robert Pattinson's version, which will soon return as part of the Matt Reeves-verse of Batman movies.

After modeling for several years, Paul Anthony Kelly was cast in FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette." The show explores the romance between JFK Jr. and his fashion publicist wife and is the first major project to feature Kelly, who was cast after an extensive search that saw the producers almost shut down the show because they hadn't found their star. According to People, they went back to the original self-tapes they'd received, brought in Kelly, and cast him almost immediately.

Aside from immediately thrusting the Canadian actor into the spotlight, this high-profile role got the internet talking: What if this classically handsome leading man played Bruce Wayne? As "Love Story" executive producer Brad Simpson said in that same People article, their JFK Jr. needed to have "that sort of '80s, old school masculinity — a man with hair on his chest." If that doesn't also describe the classic comic book Bruce Wayne, I'm not sure what does.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, fans are now voicing their opinion that Kelly should be cast as Wayne in James Gunn's DC Universe, which previously gave us our first look at the new Batman in an unexpected place: the animated series "Creature Commandos." Social media is full of users hyping up Kelly for the role, with one declaring him "The most Bruce Wayne looking dude ever." There are also plenty of edits that use footage from "Love Story" to make the case for Kelly as Wayne, which isn't hard to do considering how many scenes in the FX show lend themselves to the character's privileged lifestyle. Meanwhile, fans are comparing Kelly's visage to that of the comic book Wayne, noting how similar the actor looks to classic depictions of the fictional billionaire. There's no denying the similarities ... but is Gunn listening?

As with any high-profile blockbuster, there's been widespread speculation about who might be cast in "The Brave and the Bold." So far, "The Housemaid" star Brandon Sklenar, Jensen Ackles, and even Jake Gyllenhaal have been fan-favorite choices, alongside the aforementioned Alan Ritchson. But Paul Anthony Kelly would be an interesting pick for multiple reasons.

Not only is he a relatively fresh face, as "Love Story" is really his only acting job so far, but Kelly is much closer to that "'80s, old school masculinity" than Robert Pattinson. The latter will soon return as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Matt Reeves' "The Batman Part II," which is currently set for an October 2027 release. When exactly "The Brave and the Bold" will finally materialize remains unclear, though Gunn did seem to confirm via social media that it would emerge before 2030. As such, he'll want his Batman to be sufficiently different from Pattinson to help differentiate the two versions.

So far, however, while Andy Muschietti is apparently still onboard to direct "The Brave and the Bold," there's been no official word on who will play the Dark Knight. Gunn has spoken about why he thinks a new Wonder Woman movie would be easier than a Batman flick, mainly because as the DC Studios co-head put it, "having so much of [Batman] out there can also make him boring." That's been his general tone on the subject. Kelly certainly fits the bill in terms of his looks, but it will all depend on what tone Gunn and his collaborators are going for with their Batman movie.