How will Michael Keaton's return as Batman change the DCEU forever? Hit the "Next" button below to find out!
For years, fans have hoped that Terry McGinnis could be brought to the big screen for some sort of Batman Beyond adaptation. It's something Warner Bros. has considered at various points over the years, but Keaton's return opens the door to that finally becoming a reality.
In the animated series and comic books, Terry becomes the new Batman in a futuristic version of Gotham City with an older Bruce Wayne serving as his mentor.
Tim Burton's unique Gotham is bound to have undergone some major changes over the past thirty years, and so we don't need to jump any further into the future to make this story work. This is one of the best possible uses of the older Batman in the DCEU, and gives the world a new Dark Knight to help fill the void left by Robert Pattinson's version existing in his own world.
We alluded to this in our introduction, but the events of The Flash will mean that Ben Affleck's Batman is no more. Now, it's possible Warner Bros. is essentially recasting his version of the hero, and that it was Keaton's Caped Crusader who fought Superman and helped found the Justice League.
The difficulty there is that Keaton is twenty years older than Affleck, though he doesn't look it!
Regardless, we could be about to move into a DCEU where none of the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or Justice League happened, a game-changer in its own right. Honestly, given the reception to those movies, perhaps that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.
Something that's been sorely missing from Batman's time in the DCEU thus far is the "Bat Family." Batman v Superman confirmed that Bruce Wayne once protected Gotham City alongside Robin, but there's been no sign of Nightwing, and Batgirl remains M.I.A. from the big screen.
The introduction (or return) of Keaton's Batman means the character has a lengthy, rebooted history, and there's no reason to suspect he hasn't had his fair share of sidekicks over the years.
While it's a shame we won't get to explore their early years with the Dark Knight, this new world created by the Flash could easily see Batman have a number of former sidekicks who have broken out on their own. With that, the stage would be set for them to shine in their own solo outings.
While Warner Bros. doesn't appear to have any plans in place for a Man of Steel sequel, it's been said that Henry Cavill is in talks to make a series of cameo appearances in future DCEU projects.
Common sense says that he'll one day get involved with that battle between Shazam and Black Adam, but surely he'll factor into The Flash in some way? Even if he doesn't, Superman is bound to have an entirely different dynamic with this Batman, and it's even possible he'll be aged up a little.
Superman remains one of DC Comics' most iconic characters, and it doesn't make sense to leave him on the shelf for much longer. It makes even less sense not to have him meet this Batman.
In many ways, the DCEU is still very much in its infancy, and that means a lot of familiar faces from the comic books have yet to make their big screen debuts. However, just like the version of "Flashpoint" on the page created a new DC Universe, so too could this upcoming movie.
In that, some familiar faces could be established as heroes in the new DCEU without the need for origin stories. Green Arrow is one name that springs to mind, especially as he has history with Batman.
Ultimately, it would be a real shame for The Flash to end with the exact same shared world and the only major difference being a new Batman. Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Nightwing, and Supergirl are all examples of characters who could show up in a DCEU with more history.
Crisis on Infinite Earths is unlikely to have any sort of impact on what happens in The Flash, but in that crossover's version of Batman's world, he and Selina Kyle were about to get married.
Batman Returns teased Catwoman's return after her apparent demise, and it's likely that had Tim Burton directed another movie, she would have been reunited with Bruce Wayne. Assuming that happened in the years which followed, there's no reason she can't be part of the hero's life in The Flash.
It's not often that Batman gets a happy ending, but we'd much prefer to see him living his life with Selina when the Scarlet Speedster tracks him down...especially if Michelle Pfieffer suits up again!
In Batman, The Joker was given a much different origin story and ended up falling to his death after clashing with the Caped Crusader. With that, his story came to an end, and assuming those first two movies are canon, then the DCEU will now be without one of its greatest villains.
Jared Leto is unlikely to ever reprise the role of the Clown Prince of Crime after the way he was treated during Suicide Squad, and Joker was obviously completely standalone in nature.
There are already rumours that Matt Reeves has plans for a new version of the villain in his The Batman trilogy, so The Joker certainly isn't going to be overlooked in the coming years. However, the main DCEU will not have one, and that's obviously going to disappoint a lot of comic book fans.
There's no two ways about it; The Flash is going to lead to some major changes to the DCEU, and not just in Batman's world. There will almost certainly be some big retcons, with characters rebooted and past movies potentially wiped out of existence or no longer part of this universe's "canon."
Warner Bros. has been moving toward standalone stories featuring these comic book heroes and villains for a while now, and the events of The Flash could go some way in facilitating that.
For all we know, everything will essentially operate in its own world by the time all is said and done, though it seems more likely that there's going to be a new DCEU, albeit with only loose connections and few crossovers. If Aquaman and Shazam! were any indication, that should work. However, it's hard not to hope we don't end up with the DC Comics version of the MCU here!
This admittedly feels like wishful thinking on our part, but how cool would it be if Warner Bros. were to bring back Tim Burton and let him make a Batman 3? How that would work given how much time has passed is unclear, though we're sure there are still plenty of stories he could attempt to tell here.
What if the Red Hood were to arrive in Gotham City looking for revenge against Batman? Alternatively, we could see the Caped Crusader locked in Arkham Asylum, taking on his greatest enemies one final time (with age no longer on his side...then again, this Batman was never overly physical).
The Batman Beyond idea may be what actually works best for this possible third movie, however!
We mentioned this at the start of this feature, but Gotham City is bound to be vastly different to the one seen in the movies Ben Affleck's Batman appeared in. Tim Burton's take on the iconic comic book location was extremely unique, and very much a gothic landscape unlike anything we'd seen before.
While that's bound to have evolved over the past thirty years, you can bet your life that Gotham is going to be completely different, and exploring that promises to be a lot of fun.
Whether this leads to any other aesthetic changes to this shared world remains to be seen, but if it makes everything a little more comic book-y, that would certainly be no bad thing.
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.