Chris Pratt Is Set to Join James Gunn’s DCU

Seen here giving off his best Blue Steel at the premiere of… (checks notes) … Garfield, of course, Chris Pratt has signaled that he’s willing to join James Gunn’s burgeoning DCU. Why the sudden earnestness? Pratt recently visited the set of Gunn’s new Superman movie, and clearly, liked what he saw. Presumably, things like actually shooting on location and the red underwear. The red underwear totally did it.

Anyway, TMZ’s cameras caught up with Pratt, who notably didn’t shy away from the question he’s probably going to get 8 million times until somebody pulls the trigger.

Via Deadline:

The actor said “there’s always a chance” he could make the franchise leap, but he played coy when it came to naming a character he’d like to play.

“I just have to leave that to the fans and people like James to decide,” Pratt told TMZ. “I’m not exactly sure. I’m really not sure.

When asked flat-out if he’d join the competing franchise, Pratt didn’t hesitate in declaring, “Yes, of course”

If you watched the surprisingly decent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3then you know that Pratt’s Star-Lord is still very much in play over at Marvel. However, the studio is going through some things, so who the hell knows when or if anything over there is shooting.

I’m not suggesting that Pratt is going to fully jump ship because, despite his Worst Chris persona, his Star-Lord is a fan-favorite. When I said that Guardians 3 is surprisingly decent, that includes Pratt’s performance. In the second film, he veered a little too hard into Leading Man Chris Pratt™ mode after a more Andy Dwyer-esque debut in the first film. The third found an incredibly solid happy medium, and even I had to begrudgingly admit, “OK, I get why this guy is a movie star.” The point of my rambling is Pratt’s a shiny gold coin for a studio that has very few of those at the moment.

That said, it could be a long while until Marvel pulls Star-Lord off the ice, so why wouldn’t Pratt take a huge bag of cash from Warner Bros. to play in the DCU with Gunn? The only problem with that scenario is we’re now staring down the barrel of a very terrifying prospect: Chris Pratt as Batman. The Brave and the Bold is on the dock for the DCU and a safe, boring casting decision like Pratt would no doubt flick every bean in the bean-counting division.

May God have mercy on us all.