James Gunn Shuts Down Those Jensen Ackles/DCU Casting Rumors

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Posted in: HBO, Max, Movies, TV | Tagged: james gunn, Jensen Ackles

James Gunn Shuts Down Jensen Ackles/DCU Rumors: "Nice Guy," Not Cast

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn addressed the latest rumblings that Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, The Boys: Vought Rising) is joining the DCU.

Published Sun, 04 Oct 2026 13:36:09 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

  • James Gunn shut down Jensen Ackles DCU rumors, saying the actor has not been cast in any role at DC Studios.
  • Speculation surged after fans noticed Jensen Ackles following Gunn on Instagram and linked him to Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
  • Gunn said he met Jensen Ackles once about 20 years ago and called him a "nice guy," but denied any DCU deal.
  • Misha Collins previously revealed Jensen Ackles nearly played Batman in The CW's Gotham Knights before scheduling blocked it.

Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, The Boys: Vought Rising) is no stranger to Batman, having voiced The Dark Knight and Bruce Wayne in both parts of the direct-to-video animated film Batman: The Long Halloween and nearly donning the cape & cowl for The CW's Gotham Knights (more on that in a minute). But ever since DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran rolled out their plans, a whole lot of fans have been pushing for Ackles to be the new DCU's Dark Knight – especially in the Andy Muschietti-directed Batman: The Brave and the Bold. But over the past week or so, the rumblings got louder as folks read Ackles following Gunn on Instagram as a sign that Ackles and DC Studios were in talks for Ackles to join the DCU in some capacity. On Sunday, Gunn put those rumblings to rest in a social media post, noting that he met Ackles once, "20 years ago when he was dating a friend of mine. Nice Guy."  As for Ackles joining the DCU, Gunn added, "We haven't cast him as anything."

Images: CBS Entertainment

Here's a look at Gunn's response from earlier today regarding Ackles' DCU status:

Image: Threads Screencap

Gotham Knights Nearly Had Jensen Ackles As Batman: Misha Collins

Thanks to the fine folks over at The Flash Podcast, we learned from Misha Collins back in March 2023 that Ackles nearly had a much different role with The CW's Gotham Knights than just helping get the word out. When asked during his interview if there was an attempt to get his Supernatural co-stars Ackles and Jared Padalecki involved in the show, Collins dropped the reveal that there were talks to have Ackles take on The Dark Knight himself – Batman.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to reveal this, but we tried to work it out to have Jensen play Batman on the show," Collins shared. "It was all kind of teed up, but unfortunately, Jensen was on another show at the time [laughs], and coordinating between two series is challenging. So it didn't ultimately end up working out, but we tried. Jensen was pretty psyched about the prospect at one point because he does the voice of Batman for the animated movies. It would have been a great tie-in, and I thought it would be super fun too. But unfortunately, that didn't work out, and I thought it would be super fun too. But unfortunately, that didn't work out." As for Padalecki? "Yeah, who is a tall villain in the [DC Universe?] Maybe if we have The Penguin on stilts or something like that, Jared could play that," Collins joked before responding, "Oh, yeah, good point!" when the interviewer referenced Talon.

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