After some impressive superhero films for both major cinematic universes, James Gunn has taken over the DC Universe. With a new creative direction comes a novel take on Batman. The Caped Crusader is one of the most popular superheroes, and he’s enjoyed more on-screen adaptations than most. His next debut will be entitledThe Brave and the Bold,and it’ll introduce the entire Bat-Family.
Despite some popular contention, Batman rarely works alone. He’s always got Alfred,Gordon, and his companybehind him, but he’s built up an army of allies over the years. Multiple Robins, Batgirls, and reformed villains come together to form the Gotham Knights, also known as the Bat-Family.
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James Gunn and the Concept of Found Family
The Found Family trope does what it says on the tin. Several people with no blood ties find themselves brought together by circumstances andfire-forged into a tight-knit, loving family unit. The members of the Found Family tend to be orphans of some sort. Maybe their parents are actually dead, but any loss of loved ones works. This trope can be closely tied to more typical ironclad friends, but the bond typically goes deeper. The relationships take unique shapes, mirroring that of a nuclear family. Older characters mentor younger ones, sibling dynamics emerge, and everyone learns to bring out the best in everyone else. This trope has been beloved across every medium for generations, but one of its biggest champions in cinema is James Gunn.
Where Else Has James Gunn Used This Trope?
Gunn’s work has frequently employed the Found Family trope. The most obvious example is his beloved Marvel trilogy,Guardians of the Galaxy. When fans metPeter Quill, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, and Drax the Destroyer, they disliked each other. By the beginning of the third entry, they’ve added a few new members and developed an abiding love for one another. Each member of the Guardians has lost most or all of the people who matter to them. Their real families are either horrific or dead, leaving them to seek out bonds in new and exciting places. The Guardians aren’t even the only found families in the franchise. Quill’s relationship with Yondu is a bizarre adoptive father-son bond that only truly solidifies at the end of the second film.Gamora and her sister Nebulahave a fraught connection due to their shared trauma at the hands of their adoptive dad. Most of the trilogy is about forging good relationships, dismantling bad ones, and learning to live with the scars they leave behind. It’s the perfect Found Family franchise.
Outside the Guardians, Gunn already brought the Found Family trope to the DCU withThe Suicide SquadandPeacemaker. Thecriminals ofThe Suicide Squadfollow a similar path. They initially can’t stand each other, but as they learn to accept one another, they become a non-traditional family. Those who manage to survive the film leave the film arm-in-arm and hand-in-hand. Peacemaker is one of the weak links of Task Force X, but he finds his own family in his solo series.Peacemakergives the audience a chance to learn Christopher Smith’s tragic backstory and watch him bond with the government agents hired to shepherd him. James Gunn loves introducing wildly different characters and gradually bringing them together into a loving clan. FromScooby-Doo, toSuper, to his work with the biggest superhero studios, Gunn has mastered the team-up movie.
Why Would it Work inBatman: The Brave and the Bold?
The only thing known aboutThe Brave and the Boldis that it’ll be focused on Bruce Wayne’s introduction to hispreviously unknown son Damian. Gunn mentioned their strained father-son relationship as the primary driver of the film. Other members of the Bat-Family are likely to appear, but no other specific names have been mentioned. Damian was raised by the League of Assassins, who previously trained Batman. He meets his dad at the age of eleven. He’s already completed his growth into an insufferable jerk by that time, so it’s up to the Bat to turn him into a decent young man. Batman, history’s most famous orphan, is put in charge of at least one kid. This film could take place in a world with several other Robins running around, leading to a fascinating shake-up in existing family dynamics. With Gunn at the helm, they could find theperfect Bat-Family introduction.
The simple technique of introducing several likable characters with unique capabilities and flaws and bouncing them off of each other until they’re inseparable isone of Gunn’s strong suits. It’s an easy gambit to mess up, but the director ofGuardians of the Galaxyhas mastered the trick. Batman’s crime-fighting family has been absent from the screen for far too long, and James Gunn is the perfect studio head to bring them back in style.
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