Tag: Michael Keaton

The Batfleck is Back! Ben Affleck Set to Return as Batman in The Flash

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The Batfleck is back! All hail Ana de Armas for saving the DC cinematic universe.

But seriously what a bombshell to drop the night before DC’s long awaited virtual conference, Fandome, that kicks off on Friday. We all thought Ben Affleck was hanging up his cowl forever when he retired from the role last year and walked away from his own standalone film. But it seems like he might have just been going through a shitty time in his life and didn’t want to do anything, which is something we can all relate to. I mean his best/only role the last couple of years has been as the alcoholic Coach Carter. Plus an A+ heartwarming cameo in the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.

But it seems like it was less about being done with Batman than it was about just taking some time to mentally recharge.

And for that I think we all need to declare Ana de Armas our new queen. If nothing else she is on deck to become the First Lady of Boston as her and Affleck have been globetrotting together with puppy dog eyes of love. Through it all, Affleck refuses to ever change though. I mean he’s in exotic locations with one of the most beautiful women in the world and he’s still wearing $10 Boston t-shirts like he’s me working from the spare bedroom in sweatpants.

What an absolute meteoric rise de Armas has had the past couple of years. She was obviously in movies before (Blade Runner, War Dogs), but it’s safe to say she blew up with her role in Knives Out where she stole every scene she was in. Then she linked up with Daniel Craig again to become the next Bond girl in a movie that looks awesome, yet I still haven’t seen because of the goddamn coronavirus.

And now she has singlehandedly rejuvenated Ben Affleck and saved the DC cinematic universe.

Granted it’s not a standalone film and is all but likely just a cameo in The Flash, it’s great to have Batfleck back in our lives. Even better, this movie is going to be an absolute wet dream of weird storylines since it’s going to delve into the Multiverse. I blogged about this a couple months back, but we’re going to see both Affleck and Michael Keaton playing the Batman in the same movie and I don’t know what the hell to expect. It’ll be great to see Affleck and Ezra Miller’s Flash back on screen together because their banter was the highlight of a pretty meh Justice League. At least until the Snyder Cut drops next year.

I just hope Matt Damon doesn’t feel left out with all of this Ana de Armas talk.

Michael Keaton May Return as Batman Alongside Ezra Miller’s Flash. Wait, What??

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The Wrap – After nearly 30 years, Michael Keaton is in talks to return to the role of Batman, to appear alongside Ezra Miller in Warner Bros.’ upcoming movie “The Flash,” TheWrap has learned exclusively. Talks with Keaton are in the very early stages, it is far from a sure thing, and can go either way. No details are currently available about how big or small Keaton’s role is.

That plot will introduce general audiences to the idea of the multiverse, one of the of core concepts underpinning DC Comics. For the non fanboy set, the multiverse refers to a shifting number of alternate universes that coexist within the larger reality depicted in DC comics. Originally created to explain various contradictory changes the company’s characters experienced over decades, it allows several different versions of the same characters to simultaneously exist and, occasionally, interact. Matt Reeves upcoming “The Batman” will not be affected and Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is still viewed as the future of the franchise.

In my head I imagine the head of the DC Comics movie studio as a high school kid just inhaling Adderall and Mountain Dew because these movies are ALL over the place. Ben Affleck is the Batfleck! Batfleck is writing and directing a standalone film! Batfleck retired! Robert Pattinson is now Batman! Hey what about bringing back 1989 Batman Michael Keaton to star alongside Ezra Miller, who literally just played the Flash next to Affleck’s Batman in two movies!

Before the fanboys jump down my throat, yes I understand the concept of the multiverse. I watched an episode of the Crisis on Infinite Earths episode just to see my dude Tom Welling reprise his role in Smallville one more time. It was a disappointingly short 90 seconds of screen time for the old WB’s Clark Kent, but that disappointment gave way to a crying fit of laughter when I saw who they had playing Lex Luthor.

What, was Michael Rosenbaum busy with a set at the Comedy Store that night? Ah, but I digress.

I think the entire concept of the multiverse (which not surprisingly was originally introduced to cover up inconsistencies over the years) opens up a world of possibilities. But its hard to feel good about anything DC does these days because they’ve already mucked up so many movies and planned universes. With that being said a multiverse allows DC to punt on the idea of a shared universe across multiple movies like Marvel and focus on self contained stories while plugging and playing our favorite characters and actors without the need to explain a ton of backstory. Whether that works with an audience outside of a hardcore comics fanbase is unclear, but I know I’d be pumped to see Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern pop into a movie with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn as it’s revealed that The Joker is actually Mark Hammil’s version. Thats basically a 10 year old’s dream, just mixing and matching whatever toys you have and mashing em all together.

Or really any reason at all to bring my girl and Smallville legend Kristen Kreuk out of the Disney Vault.

But if we wanna get nuts then lets get nuts and do the Batman Beyond movie with Keaton as the old Bat.

Now THAT is a movie that would put asses in seats. I’d like to say Pattinson’s movie and this multiverse news with Keaton are just a giant smokescreen to distract us from a Batman Beyond movie secretly in the works, but I think that is giving the DCEU far too much credit. I’ve already written thousands of words about this nerdgasm of a movie so I won’t go down that rabbit hole again.

Either way I am fully on board with DC just throwing shit against the wall and seeing what sticks. Oh people love Wonder Woman and Aquaman Jason Mamoa? They’re in! People hate Jared Leto and the Batfleck retired? Out! Give me the Flash and the guy that played Batman 31 years ago and maybe another out of place character to see if we can catch lightning in a bottle with the mutliverse. That or yet another DC movie bombs and Jon Taffer just shuts it down.

Granted it came out a month after I was born so I’ve only seen it once or twice and I know it was the first comic book movie to play it serious, but I was never overly fond of Batman 1989 or Jack Nicholson, as Big Jim Murray put it, playing Jack Nicholson with makeup. With that being said I’ll have to go back and give it a rewatch because it sure sounds like Keaton could be coming out of retirement to don the black cowl once again.

All Sorts of DC and Marvel Rumors Are Swirling and I’m Having a Nerdgasm

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I am a nerd when it comes to this stuff so take these casting and movie rumors and inject them into my damn veins.

“[Sources] have informed us that inspired by the success of Joker, WB is now looking to do more standalone, dark and mature DC movies. And one project they’d like to make happen is a live-action Batman Beyond with [Michael] Keaton in the lead role.“

There is a rumor floating around that Michael Keaton could be in line to star as Bruce Wayne in a live action Batman Beyond movie. Batman Beyond was one of the best takes on Batman without rehashing the same old origin story that everyone goes back to. It focused on an old Bruce Wayne who used to be Batman with the mantle of the Dark Knight going to a young Terry McGinnis in the not so distant future. If that doesn’t give you a pants tent, well the internet has already started designing fake posters for this non-existent movie.

Then there are people who are doing the mental gymnastics around how this project could already be in the works. Theres been a TON of mystery and secrecy around Robert Pattinson’s upcoming Batman movie and mostly because nobody knows what its about. Especially after Ben Affleck’s script got thrown in the trash. So some people are theorizing that Pattinson could actually be playing Terry McGinnis with Keaton sliding in to play the older Bruce Wayne.

Sign. Me. Up.

And if you really wanted to fuck with people you could bring back Mark Hammil, who voiced the Joker in Batman the Animated Series and in some of the video games, for the fourth iteration of the Joker in the pasts decade.

Also, unrelated yet hilarious, a picture of Henry Cavill’s mustachioed Superman has finally leaked and it is glorious. Honestly, for all the dark tones these DC movies tried to force down our throats, maybe a man of steel with a flavor savor wouldn’t have been the worst thing.

Now that we’ve gone through DC’s latest rumors, lets head on over to the big kid on the block in the MCU.

In his new role as Creative Czar of Marvel, Kevin Feige is reportedly rebooting all of the Marvel TV shows that had mixed results. This comes as no surprise after each of the Marvel Netflix shows was slowly and methodically cancelled. Some like Daredevil and the Punisher were legitimately great shows and others like Iron Fist I could not make it through the pilot. Now its a real shame that Marvel plans to reboot these shows because it just makes the whole Netflix Marvel era feel like a waste of time. (Ironically enough thats been DC’s fundamental flaw forever) HOWEVER, there are now rumors circulating that while Feige will indeed reboot these shows he wants to keep some of the key actors in these roles.

“Our sources – the same ones who recently brought us accurate scoops such as Wiccan will debut in WandaVision, General Ross will appear in She-Hulk and the Inhumans will show up in Ms. Marvel – say that the Man Without Fear is likely to be played by Charlie Cox again. From what we understand, Feige still wants Cox as Daredevil, Jon Bernthal as the Punisher and a few more actors to reprise their roles, but for the most part, the TV characters will all be recast and whether they’re brought to life by a new performer or not, they’ll all be rebooted, with the super producer basically wanting to wipe Marvel TV’s efforts from continuity/existence.”

That is nothing more than a whisper in the wind, but that would be incredible and not to mention entirely unprecedented. I can’t think of one instance of a show or movie getting rebooted with the same actor returning to the role. That would be like Jared Leto and his weird, hoodrich version of the Joker reprising his role in the Todd Philips’ dark, grounded, gritty standalone film.

Don’t mess with me, internet message boards. These rumors are too good to not be true.