Marvel and DC have been engaged in a decades-long pop-culture tug of war, with fans arguing all the time about which universe is the best. However, a small scene in the most recent Disney+ series, ‘Wonder Man‘ might have crossed that boundary in a rather unexpected and strangely pleasant manner.
Without capes or crossovers, the MCU may have quietly suggested that Batman exists within its world after all. The clue isn’t a Bat-Signal or a billionaire vigilante. It’s something much smaller and much nerdier.
‘Wonder Man’s Nolan Reference Creates An Unexpected Batman Connection
In ‘Wonder Man’, Marvel makes a meta turn, ripping the veil of Hollywood in the MCU. The show is based on the adventures of Simon Williams, a would-be actor who has superpowers, and is heavy-handed on industry satire.
Name-dropping real-life actors is done along the way, and well-known creative figures are mentioned as part of the everyday pop culture of the universe.
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A single line in episode six is particularly memorable: a throwaway reference to Christopher Nolan, where one of the characters says that they just finished shooting one of his movies. It is a mere throwaway line on the surface.
However, Nolan is not just any director; he is inseparable from Batman. The Dark Knight trilogy not only reinvented Batman, but superhero movies in general. Assuming that Nolan is in the same MCU, the question arises: what films made him famous there?
Does Batman Exist As Fiction In The MCU?
The MCU has been keen on establishing the existence of superheroes in its entertainment universe. ‘Wonder Man’ in itself is a film adaptation of an old superhero property. The show itself proves that comic-book-style heroes are part of in-universe pop culture. That is the gateway to DC characters, not as real heroes, but as fictional ones.
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By that reasoning, Batman does not have to stalk Gotham in the MCU. All he has to do is be on a movie screen. Nolan would still have been able to direct ‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’, and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ in the MCU version of Hollywood and maintain his legacy without any canon confusion. Marvel is not likely to ever verify this directly, and they do not have to. The implication is fun.
The fun lies in the implication. These small references enrich the MCU, making it feel like a world where our pop culture and theirs overlap, superheroes watching superhero movies, just like us. Will Batman be mentioned again by Marvel? Probably not. However, with a single ingenious name-drop, it is now incredibly simple and enjoyable to envision Bruce Wayne living in the MCU, at least on the big screen.
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