Keaton's Batman: Love It or Hate It, He's Here to Stay
Another DCU-related scoop has just appeared on Twitter, with the insider sharing some information on DCU's current projects.
The most important and specific piece of information in it is the assertion that, based on what the scooper was told about The Flash movie, Michael Keaton's Batman is supposed to appear as the "main" DCU Batman in that movie, instead of some alternate universe version.
Michael Keaton played the titular masked hero in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and while his performance was widely praised, there is a quite obvious difficulty with resolving the "Too many Batmans" problem which we've covered before by making Keaton's character the "main" version of the character.
You can see it just by looking at the release dates of those movies. Yes, Keaton is 71 already, and despite seemingly being in a great shape for his age, he still looks his age, and even by modern-day Hollywood's standards that's a bit too old for playing an action hero.
And while a Batman Beyond-style take on the character, with Bruce Wayne now being old, and serving as a mentor for his successor, is theoretically possible, it is pretty far from what the "main" Batman is supposed to be.
Now, it should be noted that scoops are not official announcements, of course, and the information might simply be incorrect. Quite a few fans have decided to treat these news with skepticism and wait for something more solid.
Others have noted that while having Keaton play an old man, who is raising a new generation of Batfamily superheroes would be cool, and establishing a connection with Burton's Batman movies could be cool too, having a 71 years old man playing Batman in the latter's supposed prime is just silly.
The choice of the primary actor to play Batman is crucial for the course correction which DCU is supposed to be undergoing under the new studio bosses. If this scoop is true, the choice is rather bizarre in itself, and the fact that it is rather bizarre has significant long-term implications for the whole shared universe. At this stage, as often, we can only wait and see.