Surprising fans for the first time with his role as the caped crusader in the 1989 Batman movie, Michael Keaton passed on the role to Val Kilmer and George Clooney, after his appearance in the 1992 Batman Returns. However, years later the actor reprised his role as Batman with Andy Muschietti’s The Flash.
Although Michael Keaton’s appearance as Batman in the recent DC movie, The Flash, was highly anticipated, his role somehow appeared to be an unpleasant one for fans. Making Keaton look frail and tired, the director brought back a retired Batman in the reprised version. And although Andy Muschietti offered a heartbreaking explanation for Batman’s retirement, it was deleted for a greater purpose.
The Reason Behind Michael Keaton’s Retirement As Batman
While Michael Keaton appeared as Batman in the recent DC movie, The Flash, the details surrounding his return went beyond people’s expectations. Evidently, fans expected the actor to reprise his role as the Caped Crusader, while what they got was a frail and retired Batman. Although Andy Muschietti’s recent movie didn’t provide a thorough reason behind Michael Keaton‘s retirement, Bruce Wayne was heard mentioning that Gotham was a safe city.
Certainly, fans weren’t satisfied with this reasoning and wondered if there was more to it. Thus, the director later revealed a proper explanation behind Michael Keaton’s retirement as Batman. Revealing the tragic reason, the director mentioned how he wanted to “defy people’s expectations of where Bruce Wayne would be” and thus, he “wanted to deepen the backstory of Bruce Wayne”.
Andy Muschietti offered the depressing reason for Michael Keaton’s Batman to bid adieu to his job. He mentioned that Keaton’s Batman, “did something that goes against his code and killed a criminal in front of [the criminal’s] child—not knowingly, but he still did it.” He later mentioned how the situation was an “exact mirroring situation of what happened to him,”. Thus, Batman “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.”
The Heartbreaking Scene Was Deleted From The Flash
Ending the evolution of Batman’s journey, after considering himself a tragic figure, Bruce Wayne was in search of redemption, until he found Barry and realized helping him could serve his purpose – While this retirement story turned out to be extremely depressing and heartbreaking, fans wondered why it was not shown in the movie.
Michael Keaton’s retirement as Batman wasn’t exactly the most exciting or interesting possibility they could have gone with. Thus, fans wondered why Andy Muschietti didn’t provide a different perspective, or present the reason behind the retirement. But somehow, it had nothing to do with the director. Instead, the DC studio heads, James Gunn and Peter Safran had a bigger role to play.
While Andy Muschietti’s initial version wanted Bruce Wayne to meet Barry in his new universe, to further reprise his role in other DC movies, the final cut simply killed off Michael Keaton’s character. Completely erasing any possibility of bringing back Keaton’s role, Batman was killed twice. First in a blaze of glorious sacrifice and then again permanently, as the two Flashes were attempting to reverse time and stop General Zod.
Having a lot on their plate to deal with James Gunn and Peter Safran refrained from playing further with Michael Keaton’s Batman character.
Watch The Flash on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: The Direct
