DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has said repeatedly that actors who play the DCU's characters in animation will reprise those roles in live-action when the time comes. However, the studio's upcoming collaboration with Swaybox, Dynamic Duo, will not be DCU canon.
As we first reported on ComicBookMovie.com, an interesting rumour has surfaced today—via @AtlantaDCFans—claiming that the actors who star in the movie are set to reprise their respective roles in live-action.
They won't be the same versions of these characters, meaning this is a bit of a Marvel Zombies situation where actors like Iman Vellani, Elizabeth Olsen, and Sebastian Stan were enlisted to voice different iterations of their respective MCU heroes.
If this is true, it means The Black Phone and How to Train Your Dragon star Mason Thames is the DCU's Dick Grayson. Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Walking Dead: Dead City star Logan Kim will play Jason Todd, while Lee Pace—who has been cast as Red Hood One, The Joker's moniker before his transformation—is DC Studios' Clown Prince of Crime.
This suggests Gunn has a fairly solid idea of how he plans to populate Batman's corner of the DCU in The Brave and the Bold. That movie seemingly remains in limbo, but could be further along than expected if this rumour is any indication.
There is, however, one noteworthy exception. Whoever voices Batman is not expected to reprise the role in live-action, so if Chris Pine does end up landing the role, he won't don the cape and cowl in live-action down the line. The implication there may be that DC Studios is no closer to casting its Dark Knight.
Warner Bros. Animation revealed at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival that the Dynamic Duo "follows Jason [and] Dick as [a couple] of street rats who name themselves the 'dynamic duo.'" Eventually, they go their separate ways, with Dick joining Batman as Robin and Jason becoming a member of the Red Hood gang.
"Over the moon excited to announce the newest DC Studios/Warner Bros Pictures Animation greenlit film for theaters, Dynamic Duo, the story of Robin...or should I say, Robins, as in Dick Grayson and Jason Todd," Gunn said when then movie was announced in 2024. "The first feature film from the visionary Swaybox, a mix of animation, puppetry, and CGI, a script from the wonderfully talented Matt Aldrich, produced with our partners at Matt Reeves’ 6th and Idaho. This is something special."
Swaybox Studios uses an innovative "Momo animation" that blends CGI, practical stop-motion elements, and live-action performances to create a new style of animation that's vastly different from what we're used to seeing on screen.
Dynamic Duo is set to be released in theaters on September 22, 2028.