According to director Kevin Smith, DC was planning to make a Michael Keaton-led Batman Beyond movie prior to The Flash‘s rough box office debut.
Was there almost a Michael Keaton-led Batman Beyond movie?
On the most recent episode of Smith’s Fatman on Batman podcast, he revealed that he spoke with producer Michael Uslan’s son at the premiere of The Flash. There, Smith was told that a Michael Keaton-led Batman Beyond movie could be in the works if The Flash did well at the box office.
“Michael Uslan’s kid … I saw his kid at the premiere and I said ‘Where’s your dad?’ He goes, ‘He’s home watching the grosses. I said, ‘Why?’ And he goes, ‘Because if this movie does as well as The Batman’ — and Matt Reeves’ The Batman opened at $130 million — so he goes, ‘If this movie opens as well as The Batman, then one of the next Batman movies they’re going to make is Batman Beyond with Michael Keaton.”
Following the premise of the 1999 animated series, Keaton would have assumedly played an elderly Bruce Wayne who trains a young Terry McGinnis to serve as Gotham City’s new Batman. Unfortunately, given how the recent DC Studios film has been struggling in terms of gross, it seems the Batman Beyond movie may be off the table at this time.
DC Studios’ The Flash movie was directed by Andy Muschietti from a screenplay written by Birds of Prey scribe Christina Hodson. It stars Ezra Miller as Scarlet Speedster/Barry Allen, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Maribel Verdú as Nora Allen, Sasha Calle as Supergirl, and Ron Livingston as Henry Allen, along with Keaton and Ben Affleck who will reprise their respective versions of Bruce Wayne/Batman for the film.
“Worlds collide in The Flash when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past,” reads the synopsis. “But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no super heroes to turn to.”
It is executive produced by Marianne Jenkins, with Michael Disco and Barbara Muschietti serving as producers. The film is now available in theaters worldwide.
