The Superman (2025) trailer gave fans plenty to think about, from David Corenswet’s new Man of Steel to glimpses of Metropolis in chaos. Its striking visuals and subtle hints at larger threats suggest that James Gunn’s DC Universe is kicking off with a film that could ripple far beyond Clark Kent’s own story.
In the trailer, a massive trench carved into the ocean near Metropolis’ bay is seen, a detail many DC fans familiar with the geography connecting it to Gotham may have noticed. This trench might not just be a scar of destruction but a narrative bridge, hinting that Superman’s battles could unleash problems that reach Batman’s Gotham City.
James Gunn has a knack for interconnected storytelling, and Superman might be planting seeds for The Brave and the Bold, the DCU’s upcoming Batman film, which may not be arriving anytime soon. By introducing elements like the Quantum Universal Collider (QUC), the film could set up a Batman movie driven by monstrous threats, unlike any we’ve seen before.
How Superman Could Set up the DCU Batman Movie
The Superman trailer showcases a striking visual: a massive trench splitting the waters bordering Metropolis. In a sweeping aerial shot, the trailer reveals the trench as a jagged scar slicing through the ocean, its churning depths stretching toward Metropolis’ skyline. This visual not only shows the scale of destruction but also evokes a sense of foreboding as if the trench is a conduit for chaos reaching from one city to its counterpart across the bay.
In DC comics lore, Metropolis and Gotham are often depicted as sister cities, their shared bay acting as both a geographic and thematic divide. The trench, a byproduct of Superman’s battles, could serve as a literal pathway for threats. This might be for creatures unleashed by the QUC to flow into Gotham, setting up challenges for the Dark Knight.
The trailer might have subtly introduced the QUC, a volatile, extradimensional technology first seen in Peacemaker Season 1, where Auggie Smith used it to store weaponry in a pocket dimension.
In an Entertainment Weekly interview in May 2025, James Gunn confirmed that the QUC will play a significant role in both Superman and Peacemaker Season 2, describing it as “the center of the story” in the latter.
While the trailer doesn’t explicitly show the QUC, it features an orderly grid containing metahumans, likely under Lex Luthor’s control at LexCorp. It could visually represent a containment system within a pocket universe accessed via the QUC.
This grid, with its eerie, sterile arrangement of powerful beings, suggests Lex might be using the QUC to store or experiment on metahumans or monstrous entities, potentially unleashing them as threats that could escape through the trench to Gotham.
If these creatures, which could be bioengineered monsters or extradimensional horrors, break free from Lex’s QUC containment, they could flood into Gotham, creating a crisis for The Brave and the Bold. This scenario would introduce Batman to foes distinct from his usual battles against villains like the Joker.
A New Kind of Batman Villain
Gunn’s talent for reimagining obscure or monstrous villains, as seen with Starro in The Suicide Squad, suggests The Brave and the Bold could pivot away from Gotham’s traditional rogues. The QUC’s potential to release creatures like Clayface or Blockbuster would offer fresh challenges for the Dark Knight.
Gunn’s DCU is also built for cohesion, with each project feeding into a larger narrative while retaining its unique flavor. DC Studios' co-head also confirmed that The Brave and the Bold will introduce Damian Wayne as Robin, meaning this Batman is a few years into his crime-fighting career.
That gives room for a world that’s already weird, already haunted by unnatural forces. A monster-related subplot stemming from Superman would be the perfect way to bring that to life.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
