Batman fans from different generations can rejoice in the news that we will see two of the most famous men to don the cape and cowl return to the role in Andy Muschietti’s The Flash.
Vanity Fair reports that Ben Affleck will return to the role of the Dark Knight, reuniting with Ezra Miller’s Flash in the Scarlet Speedster’s solo film. But that’s not the only Batman we’ll be seeing, as it has also been officially confirmed that Michael Keaton will be reprising his role from 1989’s Batman and its sequel Batman Returns.
Director Andy Muschietti spoke with Vanity Fair about Affleck’s inclusion, citing the bond shown between Affleck’s Wayne and Ezra’s Barry Allen as a key reason for his involvement:
“[Affleck’s Batman is] 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 adds that Ben Affleck’s take on Batman will be important to ground the story for Barry Allen’s world-jumping adventure. “He’s the baseline. He’s part of that unaltered state before we jump into Barry’s adventure,” the director said. “There’s a familiarity there.”
While not diving into Michael Keaton’s inclusion as much, Muschietti went on to call it a “substantial” part. It seems like Miller’s Barry Allen will travel from the DC Extended Universe into the timeline that includes Keaton’s version of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
“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,” said Muschietti. “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.”
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