RUMOR: Michael Keaton’s New Batman Movie Canceled?

Movies

Sometimes, you feel like somebody you’ve never met did something just for you. Someone designing a coffee mug that perfectly worded a phrase my grandmother used to use, a movie theater opening across the street, Joss Whedon developing Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the exact time I needed it, casting Emilia Clarke in a Christmas movie set in London (that last one didn’t pan out so well, but it was a nice gesture). Well, now may be able to add one more to the list. First, scooper-in-chief Jeff Sneider revealed on the Hot Mike podcast that James Gunn and Peter Safran canceled a solo Batman movie starring Michael Keaton, which would have been written by Christina Hodson, who also wrote Birds of Prey, Batgirl, and The Flash. You can see him spill the beans here (it’s timestamped, so you don’t have to sit through almost an hour of them assuring us that James Gunn isn’t a sexist for rejecting a script from the woman who wrote Wonder Woman 1984):

Now, this wouldn’t seem to be something I’d like. I love Michael Keaton’s Batman and was eagerly awaiting his return; I even wrote 1125 words imagining the possibilities. (The title of that article was reinforced today, huh?) But I’m ecstatic because, shortly after Sneider’s scoop, Umberto Gonzalez claimed that the movie was going to be Batman Beyond:

FYI @TheInSneider, the "solo" Michael Keaton Batman movie you're talking about that Christina Hodson was writing, was in fact the BATMAN BEYOND movie. pic.twitter.com/I1MpKZiJGG

— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) December 9, 2022

Obviously, there’s no way to know if this is true until someone confirms it. But Jeff Sneider has gotten a lot right recently, and Batman Beyond strikes me as something the old guard would have done. So, as far as I’m concerned, if Gunn and Safran prevented Michael Keaton from being humiliated in some Batman Beyond movie, they’re heroes, no matter what else happens. They can burn the DC Film Universe to the ground, recast Superman as a medium-sized tree, give Darkseid a Mohawk and an “I love Mom” tattoo, whatever they want. I was dreading this scenario because I hate Batman Beyond and Terry McGinnis with a passion. I hate McGinnis for the same reasons I hate Miles Morales, Lady Thor, and Star-Spangled Falcon: Bruce Wayne is Batman. And Bruce Wayne recognizes that. There have been amazing stories that deal with how Bruce would react to getting older, “The Dark Knight Returns” and “Kingdom Come” – my two favorite comic book stories, coincidentally – among them. In neither of those does he “pass on his mantle” because he’s too old; even at the end of The Dark Knight Returns, when he’s training his army, he’s firmly in the lead, the general on the field, and none of those guys are Batman. Batman Beyond has Bruce Wayne sitting in a chair and petting a dog while some annoying teenager pretends to be Batman. Moreover, it makes no sense for Keaton’s Bruce Wayne, who became Batman as part of a deep psychosis, only using his madness for good because of Alfred. That Batman doesn’t train a replacement. I wanted Keaton back, but if the cost is ruining the Batman of my childhood (aside from Kevin Conroy, of course), it’s too high.

James Gunn and Peter Safran are doing the Lord’s work.