If you read the headlines and rubbed your eyes to see if you’re dreaming, you’re not alone — we did the same too. Ben Affleck has mentioned in the past that he had a miserable time playing Batman in the DCEU, and that he would have “drunk himself to death” if he played the character again. Well, I guess time heals all wounds. According to Vanity Fair, Ben Affleck has agreed to return to the DCEU as Batman in the upcoming Flash movie, helmed by It filmmaker Andy Muschietti, from a script by Grant Morrison.
It was also previously announced that Michael Keaton — yes, he would play Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 gothic adaptation — would be reprising his role as Batman in the Andy Muschiettie Flash film. But how? You wonder. Well, the film is said to be based on the 2011 ‘Flashpoint’ comic book storyline, which sees the Scarlett Speedster zooming across multiple timelines.
WHICH MEANS, there will be a scene or two (maybe more) in the movie where Flash pays a visit to Michael Keaton’s Batman timeline and later Ben Affleck’s timeline. I am totally geeking out right now. Could this also mean that there’s a possibility that we might get to see Christian Bale’s version too? Or maybe Joseph Gordon-Levitt in action as Robin? It’s certainly exciting.
What’s even more intriguing is that Affleck’s role in The Flash isn’t going to be a blink-and-you-miss one. Muschietti said:
“He’s a very substantial part of the emotional impact of the movie. The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level that we haven’t seen before. It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but their characters are more related than we think. They both lost their mothers to murder, and that’s one of the emotional vessels of the movie. That’s where the Affleck Batman kicks in. He’s the baseline. He’s part of that unaltered state before we jump into Barry’s adventure. There’s a familiarity there.”
Muschieti also said that The Flash will suggest that all previous DC cinematic iterations exist within the same multiverse.
“This movie is a bit of a hinge in the sense that it presents a story that implies a unified universe where all the cinematic iterations that we’ve seen before are valid. It’s inclusive in the sense that it is saying all that you’ve seen exists, and everything that you will see exists, in the same unified multiverse.”
