The follow contains spoilers for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special now streaming on Disney+.
The arrival of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is our second partial look at James Gunn's iconic Marvel Studios characters since Avengers: Endgame. It's also the first of a two-part endgame of sorts leading into the final movie. Yet, Batman's new boss just snuck the DC hero's name into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There are moments in the Holiday Special where the Guardians are partaking in the battle against Phase Four's Big Bad: grief. Specifically, Peter Quill is lamenting the loss of Gamora, made doubly painful because her "past" version stayed in the future but not with them. It is a fun, cartoonish Guardians of the Galaxy adventure, but heaviness hangs in the air of Knowhere. The team purchased the Celestial head from the Collector (who apparently survived Thanos) and is remaking it as a place for those displaced after the Blip. Yet, before Gunn departs this sandbox to lead the newly-named DC Studios, he put Batman into the MCU. Fittingly, it's an actor who brings the Dark Knight to the House of Ideas, Kevin Bacon, with an "Introducing" credit, no less. But it wasn't just the man from Tremors introduced -- it was the idea that DC Comics exists in the reality of the MCU.
How Does Batman and DC Comics Fit in the MCU?
Technically, this is not the first Batman reference in the MCU. In Eternals, Gligamesh calls Karun, Kingo's valet, "Alfred," a clear reference to Batman's Butler. Phastos' kid also mentions Superman. Yet, in a world with "super" people, "Superman" is a thing people reasonably would get to on their own. So, when Kevin Bacon tries to pretend to be a "real" hero while talking to Drax and Mantis on the way to Knowhere, one of his choices is Batman, who he clarifies is Bruce Wayne. So, how does this work?
Did DC Comics unfold in the MCU the way it did here, with Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel, Bill Finger and Bob Kane creating two of fiction's most important characters? In the scene where Mantis and Drax are by the Chinese Theater, there are (for obvious real-world reasons) no people dressed up as DC characters. But if they were that iconic, shouldn't there be some? Maybe they were conveniently off-screen, or maybe DC Comics began after Marvel. Captain America had comics during WW II, after all.
Perhaps the DC Comics character either died out or were even created after the heroes appeared in the MCU. It makes sense. Storytellers make up fictional government agents, soldiers, police officers or any number of real-world professions that make for good heroic action movies. That could even mean there was a movie starring Kevin Bacon called X-Men: First Class about a pretend hero team created after the Cap comics lost popularity. And that might be how James Gunn gets his DCU and MCU crossover.
Of Course, James Gunn Slipped Batman Into the MCU - He Wants a DC Crossover
Even before the DC Studios gig, James Gunn wanted DC and Marvel to crossover. But there are many obstacles, especially considering how the comic book collaborations went. In Reed Tucker's Slugfest, the author detailed how squabbles over dialogue and fights almost derailed the project multiple times. A multiversal Avengers v. The Justice League: The Dawn of Money would also fight an uphill battle to not be the worst kind of film-by-committee. Yet, since DC Comics exists in the MCU, why can't Marvel Comics exist in the DC Universe?
With Gunn heading DC Studios, Marvel references will likely become commonplace. Peacemaker might talk about his "Spider-Sense," or Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam will say something about people not liking him when he's angry. Still, if they establish that Marvel characters exist in the DC Universe, it could work as a cheat crossover. It would not be inconceivable that one or more of the Guardians of the Galaxy cast shows up in a future Gunn DC film as their character from the movies. Conventional wisdom suggests Warner Bros. and Disney would never team up. Yet, that was the same thinking that said Spider-Man would never make it to the MCU. Gunn leaves Marvel Studios with a lot of goodwill.
To see Kevin Bacon's Batman reference, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is currently streaming on Disney+.