Vanity Fair delivered some extremely exciting news revealing that Ben Affleck is returning to the role of Batman in director Andy Muschietti’s upcoming The Flash feature film starring Ezra Miller.
What makes this news even more exciting is that Affeck’s Batman will be joined onscreen by O.G. Batman Michael Keaton who will be reprising his character for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns.
The upcoming film inspired by the comic book mini-series, Flashpoint, which showed the ramifications of the Flash going back in time to prevent his mother’s murder. The CW series previously used this as a story-arc on the series, with changes resonating through the other Arrowverse series including Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow.
“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,” Muschietti said. “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.”
Using Affleck was important to Muschietti, as his, “gray-templed Bruce Wayne is the one Ezra’s Flash would consider “the original Batman,” the one he has already fought alongside in the previous Zack Snyder films. He’s the baseline. He’s part of that unaltered state before we jump into Barry’s adventure. There’s a familiarity there.”
It’s been rumored that going forward Keaton will serve as the “Nick Fury” of the DC Cinematic Universe; the mere existence of both Keaton and Affleck co-starring is that it seems that it’s a cinematic set-up of the multiverse (which was used to great effect this past season on the CW Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover which featured an Ezra Miller cameo with TV’s Flash, Grant Gustin.
According to the article, Muschietti discussed Affleck’s importance to the film, “He’s 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,” the director added. “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.”
“I’m glad to be collaborating with someone who has been on both sides of the camera, too,” Muschietti said. “He understands.”
The Flash is scheduled for release on June 2, 2022.
