While Warner Bros. ponders how to relaunch the Batman movie franchise in a fresh new way, DC fans have had the perfect idea for years: just do a live-action take on beloved animated series Batman Beyond. As every Bat-fan knows, the show featured an elderly Bruce Wayne training up his replacement, teen Terry McGinnis, as the protector of a futuristic Gotham City. Imagine how awesome a movie version of that would be?
The only way to make it even better would be to get Michael Keaton back as the older Bruce, thereby tying into the fondly-remembered Tim Burton Batman movies from the late 80s/early 90s. That would surely be an instant hit, right? Director and all-round comic book mega-fan Kevin Smith definitely thinks so, believing that a Batman Beyond flick would rack up a billion at the box office.
On the latest episode of his Fatman on Batman podcast, Marc Bernardin reminded Smith that 2019 marks 20 years since Beyond first aired, and Smith pointed out: “They should do this as a live-action movie today.” Bernardin then suggested that WB should get Keaton on board the project, which left his co-host pretty darn excited, to say the least.
“What you just witnessed was my c** face. That would be f****** amazing. Could you imagine? Oh my God…that movie makes a billion, right there man. If you’re like Michael Keaton’s coming back, people like ‘how is that possible’ and you’re like ‘because he’s Batman Beyond B****’ and people are ‘oh f*** we wanted this our whole lives!’ This is f****** good and I am down with this. When can we go?””
Honestly, there are so many pros for a Batman Beyond that it’s bizarre it’s not already happening. We’re currently in the middle of a craze for movies that hark back to popular 80s/90s franchises – for instance, the new Ghostbusters – and Keaton himself has had a real career renaissance this decade, making him a bonafide Hollywood leading man again. We can only assume that WB are skeptical that fans would accept another Batman other than Bruce Wayne.
If that’s their fear, though, then hopefully the recent success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which introduced Miles Morales’ Spidey to moviegoers, should prove that this wouldn’t be the case. Fingers crossed that fast-forward a few years and a Batman Beyond movie’s smashing records, just like Smith predicts.