Michael Keaton’s Batman RETURNS In 2022

According to an exclusive report in The Wrap, Michael Keaton is in talks to reprise his role as Batman in the upcoming Flash movie.

Apparently, discussions are still early and the actor is yet to finalise the deal, but should it go ahead, the film will encounter Keaton's Batman 30 years after the events of Batman Returns. DC's movie will allegedly be used as a springboard to introduce the idea of the multiverse for the first time properly, setting a basis for why so many different versions of the same heroes can exist simultaneously.

While audiences don't necessarily need that in-world explanation to enjoy DC's different sub-franchises, it would act as a neat way to justify having two versions of the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix and the as-yet-uncast version set to debut in Matt Reeves' Batman trilogy) existing in their own movie series concurrently.

For The Flash, though, The Wrap reports that Keaton will be picking up where Returns left off, ignoring the events of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin which, while wildly different in tone and presentation, were still set in the same continuity. Maybe these follow ups will be retconned to also be from a different part of the multiverse.

Are you hoping Michael Keaton returns as Batman? Let us know in the comments below!