What If...Kevin Smith's Superman Movie Got Made

2. Bruce Wayne Cameo?

Early in the development process of Superman Lives, Michael Keaton did actually confirm that he was involved with the film, though when journalists pressed him to explain more, such as whether he would actually be playing Batman - an exciting concept for any comic book nerd - he would play only coy, claiming, "Not exactly", whatever the Hell that meant. Smith's original script called for a tomb to be built for Superman after he "dies", and at his funeral, Batman has a brief cameo appearance by using his vast resources to hack into Metropolis' giant video screen. One can imagine that given the countless changes the film was going to go through, this might have changed too, and given how Keaton said "Not exactly", perhaps it would have wound up as a Bruce Wayne cameo rather than an outright appearance by Batman which would have seemed rather on the nose anyway.

This is one that would have been harder to organise logistically if only for the fact that by the late-90s, the role of Batman had of course deferred to Val Kilmer, and who knows whether he would have been keen on a cameo like this.