The upcoming “The Flash” film sees Michael Keaton reprising his role of Bruce Wayne/Batman for the first time in nearly thirty years in a story that will span the multiverse – allowing Ben Affleck’s DCEU-era Batman and Keaton’s to share a film.
Speaking with THR recently, Keaton discussed his motivation to return to the Batman character, saying that it offered him the chance to really do the character right now that time has passed:
“Frankly, in the back of my head, I always thought, ‘I bet I could go back go back and nail that motherf–ker… so I thought, ‘Well, now that they’re asking me, let me see if I can pull that off.'”
Of course, the film deals in the multiverse and so involves concepts of time travel and alternate universes. Keaton admits it took him a little while to grasp what they were doing:
“I had to read it more than three times to go, ‘Wait, how does this work?’. They had to explain that to me several times. By the way, I’m not being arrogant, I hope, about this. I don’t say it like, ‘I’m too groovy.’ I’m stupid. There’s a lot of things I don’t know about. And so, I don’t know, I just kind of figured it out, but this was different.”
When it came time to slip back on the cape and cowl though, it was like putting on a old comfy pair of shoes and he understands the responsibility of taking on the role again:
“What’s really interesting is how much more I got [Batman] when I went back and did him. I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it. I respect what people are trying to make.
I never looked at it like, ‘Oh, this is just a silly thing.’ It was not a silly thing when I did Batman. But it has become a giant thing, culturally. It’s iconic.
So I have even more respect for it because what do I know? This is a big deal in the world to people. You’ve got to honor that and be respectful of that. Even I go, ‘Jesus, this is huge.'”
Andy Muschietti helms “The Flash” which is scheduled to hit cinemas on November 4th 2022. Before then Keaton will reprise his Vulture role in Sony & Marvel’s “Morbius” film on January 19th.
