When Zack Snyder enlisted Jeffrey Dean Morgan for a cameo role as Thomas Wayne in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, who would’ve thought that he’d just stumbled backwards into casting the perfect Dark(er) Knight for an eventual Flashpoint movie? I mean, lots of fans wished for such a thing and the memes have long been out there, but that didn’t mean any of us were prepared for the Flash’s solo movie to be rebranded as such this past summer at San Diego Comic-Con.
Naturally, anyone remotely familiar with the source material has been jumping for joy at the notion of Morgan playing an alternate take on Batman. If this were to pan out, it would be quite the milestone because no character other than Bruce Wayne himself has yet to take up the mantle on the silver screen, despite several others having done so in the comics.
Let’s bring you all up to speed, though, before going any further. In 2011, Geoff Johns penned a five-issue miniseries titled Flashpoint that saw the Scarlet Speedster go back in time to save his mother. In doing so, he royally screwed up the timeline, creating a world filled with darker heroes. Eventually, he (kind of) set things right, thereby allowing DC to do a line-wide reboot in the form of the New 52.
In the time since, this arc has been quite faithfully adapted as an animated movie, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and served as loose inspiration for season 3 of The Flash TV series. But even with those existing, seeing it realized with a massive Hollywood budget is enough to make any one of us hyperventilate.
Getting back to Morgan himself, those of you who follow him on social media know that he’s quite gung-ho when it comes to the possibility of playing the Thomas Wayne version of Batman, even going as far as sharing fan art depicting himself in cape and cowl.
Now, however, he’s playing it a bit more coy. When recently appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the late night talk show host did his best to pry some information out of Morgan, who’s suddenly become as dodgy as someone who usually knows something that we don’t. Really, you have to admit that while he could be in the dark, his change in behavior is not unlike someone adhering to a gag order. For our sake, let’s hope that the wheels have begun turning.
Right now, Flashpoint lacks a concrete release date, but a 2020 debut is expected. As always, keep watching this space as more develops.
