Michael Keaton is Batman in Flash movie, but what about Christian Bale?

Warner Bros. is finally ready to publish after years of delay The Flash, starring Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen, to a theater near you. And with a release date comes trailers, and with a new trailer comes the first look at Michael Keaton in the batsuit for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns.

Trailer shows Batman, an older Batman, teaming with Flash and two Flash variants, taking on Kryptonian evils such as General Zod. Supergirl is also rescued by the Flash. Also, Ben Affleck’s Batman is there.

You’re wrong, Michael Keaton is still in The Flash!

Yep! Keaton was in conversations with Warner Bros. about appearing in the film as early as mid-2020, although in 2021 he was still uncertain of whether he’d take the job. Keaton will be playing Batman, and judging by the trailer, he’ll be back in a suit quite comparable to his famous all-black duds with a yellow symbol.

What’s not guaranteed is whether Keaton will be playing Bruce Wayne. The FlashIt is believed to be based on Flashpoint comic event, in which Batman is actually Bruce’s father, Thomas Wayne.

Flashpoint: What does it mean?

Flashpoint is a 2011 DC Comics series — written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Andy Kubert — in which Barry Allen traveled back in time to prevent his own mother’s murder, which unintentionally created a strange new timeline in which everything was unequivocably worse. One of the worse things in this timeline was that Bruce Wayne died in Crime Alley while his parents survived. So, it’s entirely possible that Keaton is playing Thomas Wayne, an even sadder version of Batman than the usual. Ben Affleck, however is clearly Bruce Wayne. This is something we all know.

Comics FlashpointThis was used to give the New 52 an editorial leeway. See, when Barry eventually realized he needed to undo the time travel he’d done, he donked it up again, resulting in a permanent change to the main DC setting, resetting some continuities entirely and folding in some of the company’s non-canonical siloes, like Wildstorm and Vertigo, into the main line.

Many fans speculated about this. The Flash movie could do the same for Warner Bros.’ DC films line. They may be correct. WB’s James Gunn, executive at WB stated in a recent video that he had announced the direction change for DC movies. The Flash is “a movie […] that resets the entire DC Universe.”

But here’s a twist: Keaton was also set to reprise his role in the BatgirlWarner Bros. movie recently shot… and then totally scrapped. Gunn says that Warner Bros. recently shot a movie, but it was then completely scrapped. Bold and BraveBatman film will be filmed an entirely new actor in the Bruce Wayne role. So The Flash may be a one and done for Keaton’s Batman.

Is Christian Bale’s Batman in The Flash?

Warner Bros. Pictures

Don’t let that shot of Batman on a motorcycle fool you! Sure, it does look a lot like the “batpod,” the motorcycle Batman rides in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. But there’s been no hint that Christian Bale is attached to The Flash Although some dubious rumor websites are hinting at the possibility, The design of this cycle is almost certainly intended as homage — or there are simply only so many ways you can make a vehicle look like it belongs to Batman without making it look silly. But so far, there’s no confirmation or even hint from Warner Bros. that Bale will return.

Three Batmans in one story, I don’t get it. It would be ridiculous.