By the time The Flash hits theaters in November of next year, Ben Affleck will be 50 and Michael Keaton will have recently turned 71, comfortably making them the two oldest actors to have suited up to play Batman in a live-action blockbuster. By comparison, leading man Ezra Miller hits 30 in September 2022, so even if he wasn’t playing Barry Allen he’d probably still be able to beat his co-stars in a foot race.
Despite their advancing years, the prospect of Zack Snyder’s middle-aged Caped Crusader interacting with Tim Burton’s elderly Dark Knight is a tantalizing prospect, one that seemed impossible just a couple of years ago for a number of reasons. Affleck’s time under the cape and cowl looked to be over, The Flash was mired in development hell with no means of escape and the thought of Keaton returning to the fold would have been ludicrous.
However, not only will we be seeing the two generational Bruce Waynes sharing the screen, but tipster Mikey Sutton is claiming that they might even indulge in a bit of fisticuffs. Naturally, it’s not as if Affleck’s hulking Crossfit Batman is simply going to wade up to a septuagenarian and punch him in the face, with Sutton hinting Keaton will get the upper hand to showcase both his veteran guile, extensive experience and superior intellect.
After all, if The Flash‘s multiverse is still linear in nature, Keaton will have been patrolling the streets of Gotham for well over 30 years if not 40 or more, so he’d have a significant edge over Affleck in that department. It would certainly be one way to instantly make it clear that Burton’s Batman isn’t back to be a passenger.
