Home Entertainment Rumour: WB want Christian Bale back as older Batman if Michael Keaton talks fail

Rumour: WB want Christian Bale back as older Batman if Michael Keaton talks fail

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How’s everybody’s diet going during this lockdown? Getting enough sodium? If not, I can help with that as you should probably take this next report with a healthy dose of salt.

Last week brought the hugely surprising revelation that Warner Bros. want to bring back Michael Keaton as Batman, reprising his iconic take as the character from Tim Burton’s two 1980s films about the Dark Knight. The plan was reportedly for Keaton to play an older Bruce Wayne from a different timeline (the one from the Burton films) in the upcoming The Flash movie. Adapting the universe-rebooting Flashpoint story arc, this film would be delving deep into the concept of the DC Comics multiverse and alternate timelines and setting up Keaton as a mentor of sorts across multiple films in this new DCEU. As mentioned in those reports though, Keaton was just in talks so far. And talks, as we’ve seen so many times on exciting projects in the past, can fall through.

Well, just like Batman always himself, it appears that WB may have prepared a contingency plan. According to a rumour from scooper Jeremy Conrad, if Keaton doesn’t pan out, the studio wants Christian Bale to take on the role of the older mentor Batman. Bale, of course, played Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan’s hugely successful Dark Knight trilogy, earning rave reviews and a combined $2.3 billion at the box office. If there was ever anybody else that WB would turn to for this gig, Bale makes the most sense by far.

The issue, as Conrad points out himself, is whether or not Bale would actually want to come back. Outside of The Dark Knight Trilogy, the Oscar-winning actor has fervently avoided huge franchise commitments and has made it public knowledge several times that he would only return to the role if Nolan was directing again. On top of that, Bale is currently set to co-star in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder, probably as antagonist Dario Agger. While being cast in a production for DC’s biggest rival isn’t much of an issue, that film’s production schedule would probably also take him out of contention for The Flash. And there’s the issue that at 46 years old, Bale doesn’t quite fit with the older mentor vibe that the 68-year old Keaton would bring to the role.

So yeah, I’m chalking this one up to wishful thinking for now. And speaking of which, CBR claims to have heard rumblings that if the Keaton deal does work out, WB also wants to bring back Michelle Pfeiffer to reprise her role as Selina Kyle/Catwoman from Batman Returns. Seeing as how the relationship between Catwoman and Batman was left a bit ambiguous at the end of the 1989 film, this should be an amazing gift to fans. If you listen carefully, you can probably hear our very own no.1 Pfeiffer “pfangirl” Noelle squeeing in delight right now. However, even CBR clarifies that this is still an “unfounded rumour” right now, so maybe temper your glee accordingly for now.

The one thing that is standing out for me among all these rumours though, is that there’s not a single mention of Ben Affleck. The actor may have publicly quit his role as the current DCEU Batman, but there has to be some sort of on-screen explanation as to why he’s just gone. Exactly what WB plans to do with that scenario is what intrigues me most.

Last Updated: June 30, 2020

3 Comments

  1. To be honest, I don’t even think this Flash movie will get done…..History points to this!

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      July 1, 2020 at 12:06

      Don’t worry, the Flash is going back in time to make it so that this movie actually came out in 2018.

      Reply

      • CodeDisQus

        July 2, 2020 at 08:31

        That would be the best advertising campaign ever

        Reply

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