Fans have wanted to see a live-action Batman Beyond adaptation for a long time now, but up until recently it felt more like wishful thinking than anything rooted in reality. However, it certainly seems as though we’re inching closer and closer, especially after Michael Keaton was confirmed to be returning as Bruce Wayne for the first time in 30 years for The Flash.
Not only that, but DC Films president Walter Hamada also confirmed that the plan is for Warner Bros. to move forward with two separate Batman franchises. Most people expected Robert Pattinson and Ben Affleck to be the studio’s resident Dark Knights, but subsequent reports indicated that Tim Burton’s Caped Crusader will now be the DCEU’s canonical costumed vigilante.
Keaton turns 70 years old in September, though, so he’s hardly going to be strapped into a wire rig and thrown off rooftops, which is why Batman Beyond feels like a more viable proposition right now than it ever has in the past. Already, Timothee Chalamet has found himself touted as an ideal candidate to play Bruce Wayne’s protege Terry McGinnis on several occasions, and some new fan art from SPDRMNKYXXIII seen below imagines how the 25 year-old could look in the role.
It was recently claimed that the Academy Award nominee was in talks to board the project alongside Keaton, but you’d have been advised to take that one with a pinch of salt anyway, even before it was publicly debunked by the actor’s representatives. That being said, Chalamet is more than familiar with Warner Bros. blockbusters having headlined the delayed Dune, but whether he’s got any interest in signing a multi-picture deal for something like Batman Beyond is an entirely different question.