Batman Beyond Creator Says The Show Is Ready-Made For Live-Action

The circumstances surrounding Michael Keaton’s involvement in the DCEU continue to become more surprising with every new piece of information that gets revealed. The fact that the actor was returning to play Batman for the first time in 30 years in The Flash was shocking enough, but the latest reports have claimed that he’ll be established as the franchise’s canonical Dark Knight in the main timeline, a role that’s still technically occupied by Ben Affleck.

That makes it look a lot more likely that Affleck could be retiring from the cape and cowl once again, especially when there are already plenty of theories doing the rounds that he won’t make it out of the Scarlet Speedster’s solo debut alive. And if that’s the case, then no offense intended to Keaton, but casting a 69 year-old as Batman to lead your multi-billion dollar series of superhero blockbusters into the future is a strange creative choice to say the least.

However, while he might not be doing the stunts and beating criminals to a pulp himself, it’s greatly raised the chances of fans finally getting the live-action Batman Beyond they’ve wanted to see for the better part of two decades. Keaton is the perfect age to play the older version of Bruce Wayne who takes Terry McGinnis under his wing as a protege, and the animated show’s creator Paul Dini addressed the speculation in a recent interview, saying that the property is ready-made for the big screen.

“Could it work in live action? Sure. Of course, it could. I think it’s ready-made for it. I do think it would be a little on the higher end production-value-wise, because it would not be a cheap movie to make because it’s set in the future. But I there’s definitely some cinematic possibilities there, for sure.”

Even ignoring the debunked rumors claiming Timothee Chalamet was suiting up as Terry for an HBO Max exclusive movie, Dini’s completely right that Batman Beyond would be a very expensive project, so much so that there’s really no other place for it than the biggest screen possible.