All the signs are pointing to a live-action Batman Beyond movie finally happening, after fans have been campaigning for one for years. Michael Keaton is in talks to return as Bruce Wayne, with it believed that his role in The Flash could lead to him training up protégé Terry McGinnis in a follow-up film. This would be a big deal as it would be the first time someone other than Bruce has worn the cowl on the big screen. But who could play Terry?
Well, one actor, who’s no stranger to the DC universe, has made their interest in the part clear. Shazam! star Ross Butler took to Twitter yesterday to put it out there that he would love to play Terry in a BB movie. Sharing a snap of himself looking sharp alongside a promo image from the beloved animated series, Butler wrote: “Can we?… is this… a thing?”
https://twitter.com/RossButler/status/1281701070587047936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Also known for 13 Reasons Why, Butler played the adult superhero form of Ian Chen’s Eugene Choi in the aforementioned 2019 flick starring Zachary Levi. You might think that rules him out from landing another role in the DCEU, then, but several actors have landed multiple parts in the same superhero franchise. Shazam!, for instance, starred Djimon Hounsou just a few months after he already appeared in the DCEU in Aquaman.
Besides, if Keaton is involved, a Batman Beyond film would take place in a different universe from the mainline DCEU, so it wouldn’t cause a continuity problem. As for whether it’s likely that Butler would be in with a shot at the gig, well, it’s hard to say. Terry isn’t actually of Asian descent in the cartoon, nor is voice actor Will Friedle, but a lot of fans have got behind the idea of reinventing him as Asian for live-action. And a look at the replies to Butler’s post above will show you that folks like the sounds of him bringing McGinnis to life.
