As Warner Bros. continues to work out how best to relaunch the Batman movie franchise in an exciting new way, DC fans have already had the perfect idea for years now: just produce a live-action adaptation of everyone’s favorite animated series Batman Beyond. And better yet, get Michael Keaton back as the older Bruce, as it could tie into the fondly-remembered Tim Burton Batman movies. Surely that’d be a license to print money, right?
Well, we’ve got some good news, as sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who told us The CW was developing an Arrow spinoff for Katherine McNamara back in March, Viola Davis was returning for The Suicide Squad and that Tom Welling was going to show up in “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” all of which were eventually confirmed – have informed us that inspired by the success of Joker, WB is now looking to do more standalone, dark and mature DC movies. And one project they’d like to make happen is a live-action Batman Beyond with Keaton in the lead role.
For those unfamiliar with Batman Beyond, it was a beloved TV show that aired from 1999 to 2001 and saw a Bruce Wayne who’d hung up the cape and cowl and was living a lonely existence in his mansion. Everything changed for him, though, when high-schooler Terry McGinnis stumbled into the Batcave and swiped a prototype Batsuit. It wasn’t long before he became the Batman of the future and an elderly Bruce Wayne found himself as his mentor.
Of course, none of this is set in stone yet and there’s every chance that the project won’t ever materialize. But with the wild success Joker‘s seen so far, it’d make sense that WB would want to explore more DC projects in a similar vein and a Batman Beyond movie with Keaton in the lead would without a doubt be a monster hit for them. Bigger than even the aforementioned Joaquin Phoenix-starring film.