Winston Duke Is The New Batman
The new Batman story is a psychological thriller starring Marvel star Winston Duke.
In addition to being a key player in Marvel’s future plans for the Black Panther franchise, Winston Duke has just signed on to voice one of the most important DC Comics superheroes there is. The Hollywood Reporter revealed Tuesday that Winston Duke will voice none other than Bruce Wayne, better known as Batman, Gotham’s caped crusader, in an upcoming podcast titled Batman Unburied.
The podcast, which will tell its complete story over the course of one season, will explore Winston Duke as Bruce Wayne in the psychological thriller genre in a tale penned by The Dark Knight screenwriter, David S. Goyer. The outlet reports the story sees Bruce Wayne working as a forensic pathologist in the depths of Gotham Hospital. While everyone knows Batman is the world’s greatest detective, a nine-to-five job in a hospital is a far cry from the billionaire playboy persona Bruce Wayne has been depicted with in the past.
Regardless, Wayne’s job puts him on the case examining victims of The Harvester, described as a gruesome serial killer that’s preying on the citizens of Gotham in a way that only the city’s vigilante, Batman, is able to stop. Proving that they’re not abandoning Bruce Wayne’s typical persona entirely, Winston Duke’s Batman will be joined by Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs as Alfred.
Unfortunately for Winston Duke fans, there’s currently no set release date for the podcast, nor is there any information about the way in which it will be released. Spotify could release episodes weekly or do a full season dump. Regardless, the deal marks the first fully produced podcast starring DC Comics characters since Warner Bros. and the music and podcast streamer announced a deal to debut a series of exclusive shows based on the comic book properties. Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Catwoman, Riddler, and Batgirl are expected to show up in other series under the deal.
Winston Duke is clearly doubling down on the superhero genre. In addition to the announcement that he’ll voice Bruce Wayne in Batman Unburied, Collider broke the news earlier this month that he has officially signed on to reprise his role as M’Baku in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is currently filming in Atlanta. Those familiar with the franchise are not at all surprised that M’Baku is returning after being one of only a handful of Black Panther stars to reprise his role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The franchise will need all the connective tissue it can get in the wake of King T’Challa actor Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death in 2020.
Winston Duke told the outlet that everyone on set feels the tremendous loss of the franchise’s title character but noted that the rest of the cast, which includes Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira and director Ryan Coogler, have all bonded as a family and are doing everything they can to respect what a new movie without Boseman means both for fans as well as the story of Wakanda. It’s worth mentioning that, while not yet confirmed, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, and Florence Kasumba are expected to return for the sequel as well.
