Following many recent developments and movie cancelations at Warner Bros., it looks like Michael Keaton's Batman is skating on thin ice and may not get the epic DC homecoming he deserves. Directed by Tim Burton, Keaton's Batman hit the big screens in 1989 and earned over $400 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo). The DC film was a financial and critical success and, to some degree, played an important role in paving the way for superhero movies in Hollywood.
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Batman was followed up with a sequel, titled Batman Returns, which marked Keaton's return as The Dark Knight. After Keaton departed from the series, Val Kilmer played the Caped Crusader in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever, and finally, George Clooney took over in Batman & Robin. While both George Clooney and Val Kilmer brought their own unique spin to Batman's dark demeanor, it was Michael Keaton's depiction of Bruce Wayne that is often touted as the face of the Tim Burton superhero franchise. This is not surprising considering how Michael Keaton's Batman perfectly blends into Burton's gothic vision of Gotham even though Keaton was typecast as a non-serious comedic actor before the film.
After three decades, Michael Keaton is wearing his batsuit all over again in DCEU's The Flash. With his initial involvement in Aquaman 2 and Batgirl, it almost seemed like Keaton was finally going to get the Batman 3 he deserved 30 years ago. Unfortunately, now that Aquaman 2's Batman scenes have been reportedly re-shot with Ben Affleck as Keaton's Batman replacement and Batgirl has been shelved, Keaton's Batman is walking a tightrope in the DCEU, with his significance gradually running thin in the franchise's overarching storylines.
Michael Keaton's Batman Return Should Be Exciting
From Ben Affleck's rage-fueled Superman-stomping Dark Knight to Robert Pattinson's emo Caped Crusader, there have been some incredible Batmen on the big screen. Still, Michael Keaton's version somehow stands out because of how he encapsulates the dichotomy in Bruce Wayne's persona. There are several memorable moments in Batman and Batman Returns where Keaton's Bruce Wayne effectively breaks character and unleashes the almost maniacal masked vigilante that forever rests within him.
These scenes establish that Batman isn't too different from Gotham's villains and can easily tip off on the bad side if he takes his lust for vengeance a little too far. While Christian Bale's Batman also portrays this duality in Nolan's Batman-verse, Michael Keaton was the first to draw a clear distinction between Batman and his convincing playboy billionaire facade. For this reason, Michael Keaton's return as Batman is a big deal and deserves to be as exciting as possible.
WB's Changes Mean Michael Keaton's Batman Future Is In Doubt
Even though Keaton willingly stepped away from Burton's Batman after two films, he did not hold himself back from reprising the role when WB beamed the Bat Signal for him to return. According to reports, he is central to The Flash's storyline, was a part of a major action set piece for Batgirl, and was also supposed to make a cameo in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. However, after Batgirl's cancelation due to poor responses from test audiences and The Flash being in jeopardy following Ezra Miller's legal troubles, Michael Keaton's Batman is seemingly losing his hold on DCEU's future plans. Not to mention, since it is rumored that Michael Keaton has been replaced by Ben Affleck in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, his prospects of having a prominent role in the franchise's future have dwindled even further.
Why The DCEU's Batman Future Is So Unclear & Messy
Instead of treading the same path as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and creating a semblance of continuity between different movies and television shows, DC has given birth to several pocket universes. It all started when Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises prevented Batman from being a part of a potential Justice League follow-up. Following this, Ben Affleck was brought in to play Batman alongside Henry Cavill's Superman and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman in Zack Snyder's Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but the movie's underwhelming performance failed to give DCEU a much-needed kickstart. Justice League only escalated Batman V. Superman's problems, which later led to the release of Snyder's fan-campaigned 4-hour-plus Justice League.
With Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill's place in the DCEU remaining riddled with uncertainty after Justice League, Warner Bros. has further muddled DCEU's timeline by continuing Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash as individual properties. The ambiguity surrounding Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck's appearance in The Flash hints at a DCEU multiverse crossover, but this only complicates things as it makes one wonder about Robert Pattinson's significance in the overarching franchise. Although it seems evident that Robert Pattinson's Batman is not yet DCEU canon, it still evokes confusion around the direction in which DC movies are heading in. Spin-offs like Peacemaker have also established their loose links with the Justice League, but it remains unclear how these tie-ins will come together in the grand scheme of things. Furthermore, it is hard not to wonder if Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever and Batman & Robin are canon to Burton's Bat-verse, and if they are, how will they be affected by the Michael Keaton DCEU crossover.
Michael Keaton's Batman Should Still Return After The Flash
As seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Everything Everywhere All at Once, nostalgia can often be a primary driving force for multiverse narratives. Since Michael Keaton's Batman was among the first few films that drew a clear picture of the scalability of superhero characters and opened the floodgates of feature film comic book adaptations, his return would be an incredible way to instill nostalgia, especially for those who followed the Dark Crusader's big screen Gotham adventures way before Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight hit the screens. Keaton's Batman also opens a plethora of opportunities to reinstate some classic Batman villains like Jack Nicholson's Joker and Danny DeVito's Penguin, and even superheroes who existed solely in his universe. But, of course, for these intriguing ideas and prospects to come to fruition, Michael Keaton's Batman must stay in the DCEU beyond The Flash and hopefully someday even land a standalone film.