The Flash Didn't Include The Grim Reason Michael Keaton's Batman Is Retired
"The Flash" made the dreams of '90s kids come true by bringing Michael Keaton back as Batman after the actor put down the cape and cowl following "Batman Returns." Unfortunately, the box office receipts show that the return of the retro Dark Knight wasn't enough to get audiences into theaters for the Scarlet Speedster's first solo outing on the big screen. We say solo outing, but "The Flash" not only brought in Michael Keaton's Batman, Ben Affleck's Batman, and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, but a cavalcade of horrifying digital cameos, including Christopher Reeve and Nicolas Cage as two wildly different versions of Superman. None of that was enough to entice audiences to hit the big screen. If anything the latter only gave people a reason to stay away.
However, "The Flash" delivers a "Back to the Future" riff that makes good use of an older and wiser Bruce Wayne, with Michael Keaton having no problem being back in black. The only problem is that we didn't really get much time to spend with this aged version of the Caped Crusader to understand where he's at in life. When we meet Bruce Wayne in "The Flash," the Barry Allen from another universe and the Barry Allen from the current universe walk into Wayne Manor to find Bruce Wayne bumming around the kitchen in slippers, a cardigan, and fairly unkempt long, gray hair. It's implied that he's not doing much of anything these days, and the only reason for that provided is that Gotham didn't need him anymore, which doesn't give us much to latch onto.
Director Andy Muschietti previously teased a deleted scene from "The Flash" that was intended to provide a little more context as to why Batman was retired in this alternate universe. At the time, he didn't provide any specifics on what that reasoning might be, but a new look behind the scenes spells it out, and it's a bit grim.
'I really wanted to defy people's expectations of where Bruce Wayne would be 30 years later'
In a new featurette that goes behind the scenes of Batman's return in "The Flash," director Andy Mischietti had this to say:
"I really wanted to defy people's expectations of where Bruce Wayne would be 30 years later. And I also wanted to deepen the backstory of Bruce Wayne. If Bruce Wayne, as the story tells, has been retired 25 years, what happened to him? I always said something should have happened to Bruce Wayne to [make him] want to stop being Batman. My idea was that he did something that goes against his code. He killed a criminal in front of his child. Unknowingly, but he still did it, which is an exact mirroring of what happened to him when his parents were killed in front of him at Monarch Theatre, and that created that 'monster' that Batman is."
Whoa, Batman's parents were killed in front of him? We had no idea! Not a single Batman movie has ever explored the reason that Bruce Wayne became Batman. In all seriousness, having a Batman who broke his own rules by killing a criminal and learning that their child saw it all happen? That's pretty dark, and that's a detail we wish would have been included in "The Flash." Because as great as Michael Keaton's return as Batman is, there's not an emotionally resonant reason that makes us care about Bruce Wayne being retired, and it undercuts the character's role in the story a little bit. Muschietti elaborated a bit more on where Batman is at this point in time:
"So he just couldn't cope with it, and that's why he decided to shut off his other side, Batman. And he hasn't been able to forgive himself, and now the way we find him is a bit of the evolution of that journey. He's a tragic figure. He's basically a character that is in search of redemption, but eventually finds a way to do it by helping Barry."
Will Michael Keaton's Batman every return...again?
It's a shame that audiences didn't turn out for "The Flash," if only because the lack of pleasing box office results for the studio means that we may not ever see Michael Keaton as Batman on the big screen again. Originally intended to also appear in the now-canceled "Batgirl" movie, the original hope for Michael Keaton's role in the future of the DC Universe on the big screen would have positioned him as DC's version of Marvel's Nick Fury. That would have included a cameo in the upcoming "Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom," and there were even rumblings about a "Batman Beyond" movie being in development before "The Flash" tumbled at the box office.
But now James Gunn and Peter Safran are taking control of the DC Comics properties in film and television, and a whole new universe will be born, beginning with "Superman: Legacy" on the big screen and the animated "Creature Commandos" on television. That doesn't mean Michael Keaton's Batman can be counted out entirely, especially with the possibility of the multiverse now in play across many comic book movies and TV shows. But we can't imagine that Gunn and Safran will be digging back into that well anytime in the near future.
"The Flash" is now playing in theaters, and it's also available on Premium VOD.