Who Is Tom Brittney, The DCU’s Latest Viral ‘Confirmed’ Batman?

Actor Tom Brittney poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film ‘Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool’ showing as part of the BFI London Film Festival in London, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

2017 Invision

Comic book fans are nothing if not predictable and led around by a parade of insiders who report what’s going on behind the scenes of various projects. That information ranges from secret villains and guest stars in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday to the inner workings of the DCU. That’s where we are today, with fresh news about the DCU’s pick for Batman in the upcoming Brave and the Bold, or at least an alleged one that may come as a surprise to many.

First, the validity of the rumor. This was all started by a report from industry figure John Campea, generally reliable about this sort of thing, who says that he knows the name, one he “wouldn’t have guessed,” and he had heard it from a number of sources who all said the same actor. This was later expanded on by another insider, MyTimetoShine, who confirmed it was “Tom.” So, this is hardly a set shot of someone leaking out (though you have to watch even those these days because of AI), but regardless, it’s making the rounds very, very quickly and is worth at least addressing.

The Tom in question is Tom Brittney, the square-jawed actor who has been tossed around a few times, but is not a known name, nor a frequent fan-cast like Brandon Sklenar or a mentioned A-lister like Jake Gyllenhaal.

Brittney is best known for his role in Grantchester, a UK series that has spanned 10 seasons since 2014, during which he appeared in 34 episodes. It’s a UK staple, though one most in the US probably have never heard of. In a more “mainstream” project, he had a small role in the Jamie Foxx/Cameron Diaz Netflix movie Back in Action (which went on to become one of the service’s most-watched movies ever).

It’s not a long resume, but that’s not a disqualifier for a Gunn-chosen lead either. It’s pretty close to what we saw with the casting of David Corenswet as Superman, who had smaller supporting roles in Pearl and Twisters, his biggest TV run being The Politician back in 2019. Definitely not a “name.”

There is one more factor here in that Brittney was reportedly a finalist to play Superman himself, right up there alongside Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult. And as we saw with Hoult, he was instead given another big DCU role, Lex Luthor. The idea here is that if Brittney made it that far, impressing many, giving him Bruce Wayne may follow that previous trend.

We have heard many, many DCU Batman rumors for a while now, some of which James Gunn has personally shot down, previously saying casting had not even started yet. But that was a bit ago, and there is a theory now that perhaps this is starting to leak, or maybe be confirmed soon, to distract from the recent, very poor performance of Supergirl in theaters. Again, a theory.

I’ve seen great insider scoops, and I’ve seen terrible ones. This one needs more sourcing to pan out, but at least logically, there’s a lot about it that makes sense. Still, don’t let the internet spiral into claims of “actual” confirmation just yet.

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