The era of James Gunn and Peter Safran is off to a wild start. The duo are almost wiping the entire slate clean, which includes a planned Batman Beyond film with Michael Keaton.
Coming from Jeff Sneider on this week’s The Hot Mic episode, the report says there was a planned Batman solo film with a returning Michael Keaton at the center. Sneider notes the film was inspired by Batman Beyond, and written by Bird of Prey‘s Christina Hodson.
In a later report, scooper El Mayimbe backed the story by confirming it was a Batman Beyond film with Keaton starring alongside a younger actor playing Terry McGinnis.
Batman Beyond is an animated series from January 10, 1999 – December 18, 2001. For its three seasons, we saw an aged Bruce Wayne mentor a young rebel named Terry McGinnis in a futuristic Gotham. The timeline fits with the other Bruce Timm animated series; Batman Beyond was set 20 years following Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures and 15 to 17 years following Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.
The Michael Keaton Batman Beyond film isn’t as shocking as a studio cancelling such a genius idea. Keaton is set to return in next year’s The Flash film in a significant role, which was supposed to launch a new era for his Batman. Plans changed even before Gunn and Safran took over, with Batgirl being cancelled, which Keaton also had a significant role in. There are also rumblings that his cameo appearance in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was nixed.
This news follows the reports of Patty Jenkins walking away from Wonder Woman 3 after clashing with WB, as well as rumour and speculation surrounding the futures of the likes of Henry Cavill’s Superman, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman. Though Gunn addressed the situation and claimed not all of these news stories are 100% correct, the actual plans for the future of DC movies are still shaping up.
Originally published December 10, 2022. Updated December 11, 2022.
