It turns out that The Flash could have led to a Batman Beyond movie with Michael Keaton if the DCEU installment had been a box-office success.

Those who have been wanting to see Michael Keaton in a Batman Beyond live-action movie have lost their chance once again as the idea was dependent on The Flash film’s box-office numbers. One of the most popular live-action takes on Batman is finally back on the big screen as Keaton returned to the role in The Flash after having hung up the cape and cowl in 1992. Loosely based on Flashpoint, Keaton filled a similar role that Thomas Wayne’s Batman did in the infamous DC Comics storyline after Barry Allen messed with reality.

It turns out that DC fans could have gotten more of Keaton as Bruce Wayne after The Flash, specifically in a spinoff that many have been fighting to see the actor star in for years. According to Kevin Smith during a recent episode of Fatman Beyond, the popular filmmaker spoke about having had conversations with a family member of long-time Batman producer Michael Uslan and what plans they had in mind for Keaton’s Dark Knight after The Flash. If The Flash movie had done as well as The Batman’s box-office did during its opening weekend, a Batman Beyond live-action would have happened with Keaton.

I was hoping that it did better than it did because Michael Uslan’s kid said that…if the movie did as well as The Batman — The Batman opened at $130 million — one of the next Batman movies they’re going to make is Batman Beyond with Michael Keaton. So I was like, ‘Oh, my God, now I hope this movie makes a lot of money.’

All Of Warner Bros.’ Cancelled Plans With Keaton’s Batman Explained

With Keaton losing his Batman Beyond movie, it is just the latest scrapped plan in a line of DC ideas for the actor after The Flash. Originally, when Keaton was first attached to reprise the role of Batman in The Flash, it was reportedly going to set him up as the DCEU’s new main Caped Crusader, thus replacing Ben Affleck’s version of the character. In early reports of his return, Keaton’s Batman would have supposedly filled a similar role as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

While it’s unclear how many films he would have shown up in, Keaton ended up filming one more DCEU project, as he took part in the Batgirl movie with Leslie Grace. The Flash would have directly set up the events of Batgirl, which would have been an origin story for Barbara Gordon in the retooled version of the DCEU. However, the Batgirl movie was infamously canceled by Warner Bros. Discovery despite having finished principal photography, thus making the world lose another chance to see Keaton as Batman.

Even though Batman Beyond may not happen in the DCEU, there is nothing stopping DC Studios from pursuing one as an Elseworlds project. That way, Keaton could still return as Bruce and mentor Terry McGinnis in its own continuity without having to clash with James Gunn’s DC Universe plans. Hopefully, despite The Flash’s failure, a Batman Beyond live-action project will happen in one way or another down the line.

Source: screenrant.com