Keaton's Batman Returns

Listen to me: Let's go back and show them what we're capable of. We have to end it on our own terms - with a grand gesture. Flames. Sacrifice. Icarus. You hear me? You can do it. You are...Batman!!

It's been a week since this rumor began, so it's safe to offer my take on it. I'm in favor of it, because I think it's indicative of a new wave of films coming our way featuring all the familiar characters...it's not clear if it will happen, but I can picture what they might have in mind...and it looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Michael Keaton is "in talks" to reprise his role as Batman and co-star alongside Ezra Miller in The Flash. This would not be a new take on the character - Keaton would be literally playing an older version of Batman in the 1989 Batman film directed by Tim Burton, albeit with the manic edge that sets his Batman apart from other portrayals. The plot of this new movie would be that the Flash accidentally enters an alternate universe after traveling back in time to prevent the death of his mother by Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. The Flash ends up in an alternate reality where he temporarily retains his old memories but has no powers and the nearest superhero in existence that he recognizes is Batman...only to discover that this Batman is not the Batman he knows.

This plot was inspired by the DC Comics mini-series Flashpoint, which was adapted into an animated, direct-to-video film and was the launch pad for the New52 line-wide relaunch/reboot of all the DC Comic books almost a decade ago. When fans on social media learned that Christina Hodson's screenplay was going to be based on this film, they didn't expect how loosely it would be adapted. In the original storyline, the Batman whom Barry Allen (The Flash) encounters is not Bruce Wayne, but Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father. In this alternate world, Bruce is killed by a petty thief with a gun, while his mother Martha is also shot, but survives, only to go insane and become The Joker of that universe. Fans assumed these characters were going to be reprised by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan, who had previously appeared (briefly) as Thomas & Martha Wayne in Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I admit this would've been interesting, but what's being cooked up sounds much more enticing...or, in the words of Birdman:

A billion (dollars) worldwide, guaranteed!

The inspiration for having an older version of Batman is based on 2 very popular takes on the character in comics and on television: Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Batman Beyond. Both depicted an aged Bruce Wayne, floating between 60 and 80, attempting to continue his crusade against crime either through updated gadgets & costumes or grooming a replacement. The role Keaton would play is that of Batman as a mentor figure, a Merlin/Obi-Wan Kenobi passing along everything he's learned, while still having a part to play in the battlefield. It has the potential to be a very lucrative role for Keaton, currently 68, yet looking a lot more fit than Iain Glen, who played a different version of an older Bruce Wayne in Season 2 of the DC Universe streaming series Titans, is eight years younger than Keaton, yet looks older than Keaton..

   I mean no disrespect, but...yeah.

Hodson's script for The Flash could still be following the bare bones outline of the plot, but I am going to speculate that the story will be getting more of it's energy from a subsequent story that teamed Batman & The Flash - The Button, a simple mystery story, created as a set up for Doomsday Clock, but the film may not need follow that..unless they might want to set that up, but there's no hint of that. The point is, it's Batman & The Flash teaming up to stop Professor Zoom from destroying the universe with time travel paradoxes. It's not clear if fellow superhero Cyborg is still involved in the plot, but he could be handy with a lot of the technological plot contrivances. 

At heart, it's clear that the film is going to be about the Flash learning that Zoom killed Barry's mother and framed his father with the crime, creating the impetus for Barry to travel back in time to try changing this outcome and accidentally enter a parallel universe, which is revealed to be the universe of the 2 Batman films directed by Tim Burton, albeit 31 years later. He meets the older Batman of that world, who helps him get his powers back (perhaps with help from Cyborg?), then helps Barry stop Zoom from using the paradoxical gateways to destroy the whole multiverse. When Barry returns to his proper timeline...it could end either way. The original comic ended with him in a newly-readjusted reality, so you'll see Keaton's Batman show up and say, "Glad you made it back, Barry", or they might want to end it with the updated Burtonverse established in case Ben Affleck might want to come back and do that version of The Batman that he had planned to do a few years ago...

The conceit of establishing the existence of a multiverse in the DC Films allows for every project in play to matter and be included. When the CW network adaptation of Crisis On Infinite Earths, featuring all the characters from live-action TV series with the DC Comics superheroes available aired this past winter, nobody anticipated that would be a test run for something more ambitious with the films. Warner Brothers' new owners, AT&T, is the main straw stirring this drink that's being concocted, but it depends a lot on specific things happening to work. For starters, Zack Snyder's Justice League has to be the success that people are beginning to believe it will be. Second, the "talks" with Keaton have to be a success. It could involve him recieving "points on the back end" of The Flash and 2 other projects that are also linked to the discussion - Batgirl and Batman Beyond.

A few months back, I had fun speculating on what the plot of Christina Hodson's top secret Batgirl screenplay could be about, but it was based on the idea that Batman might not appear in it. If the deal succeeds, Keaton's Batman will appear in this. Some fans speculated that this meant we were getting Batgirl Beyond, but it could be 2 different things.. it did remind me that Batman & Batgirl teamed-up once in the comics to fight Dr. Phosphorus - the visual inspiration for Batman Beyond's Season 1 villain Blight:

And...I'm still rooting for Lily Collins to be cast as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon...in this case, I can see her playing off Michael Keaton really well.

It's alleged that if Batgirl is the whip cream on this milkshake, Batman Beyond is going to be the cherry on top - first alleged to be a series on HBOMax, but now alleged that AT&T wants it to be a movie. This is the one where Bruce Wayne is a mentor to Terry McGuiness, a teenager who is later revealed to be his son in Justice League Unlimited via DNA rewriting courtesy of government agent Amanda Waller.

This milkshake was given sprinkles with an additional rumor that executives at AT&T want Johnny Depp in this movie as The Joker. Effectively, this Batman Beyond movie would be taking cues from the most famous (and popular) story of that series - Return of The Joker:

Where am I getting these rumors from? The same place everyone else gathers rumors from - YouTube. I had first read the rumor about Keaton from Twitter, with the link to the article from The Hollywood Reporter, but the speculation about the plot of The Flash is my own. The Batman Beyond rumors, including the desire from AT&T to get Depp as The Joker - comes from the Midnight's Edge YouTube channel. All of these sources stress that these plans depend upon a deal with Keaton, who is suddenly getting the most attention he's ever had since the last time he played Batman onscreen. This will be fun to keeps tabs on to see what develops.

You're a movie star, man! You're a global force! Don't you get it? We'll make a comeback. They're waiting for something huge. Well, give it to them. Shave off that pathetic goatee. Get some surgery! 60 is the new 30, motherf---er! You're the original. You paved the way for these other clowns. Give the people what they want. A billion worldwide, guaranteed!..this is where you belong.