By the time The Flash is finally released in November 2022, Michael Keaton will be 71 years old, so it would be foolish to expect him to tackle the sort of intense physical training and intricate fight choreography that comes with the territory when you’re playing Batman, one of the most iconic figures in popular culture.
Of course, that’s not to say that Tim Burton’s Dark Knight will be sitting on the sidelines taking a passive role in the set pieces, and there’s plenty of precedent for actors in his age bracket getting their hands dirty on screen as Liam Neeson, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger continue to show, but it’s hard to imagine him being launched around a cavernous soundstage on a wire rig.
Nonetheless, insider Daniel Richtman offers that Keaton wants to keep playing Batman for a long time to come, as if 33 years won’t be enough. Obviously, there’s going to be a sizeable gap in between his second and third outings under the cape and cowl, but after DC Films president Walter Hamada confirmed that he’d be viewed as the franchise’s canonical Caped Crusader moving forward, a mentor-like role across the shared universe seems to be a safe bet.
The ‘for a long time’ thing is admittedly a vague misnomer that Richtman has used on numerous occasions in the past, though, in regards to Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia, Millie Bobby Brown’s Enola Holmes, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and even Robert Pattinson’s version of Batman, all recognizable names playing even more marketable characters that the respective studios can keep milking for many more years. That being said, we should be getting a much clearer picture on what the future holds for Keaton’s Bruce Wayne as The Flash inches closer to hitting the big screen.
