Post Flash era

[The Laughing Fish]

Well, this thread has aged rather poorly.

Looking at what a farce The Flash turned out to be and how it became the biggest DC flop of all time, Keaton would've been better off making his third and final appearance in Forever. From what I saw of The Flash, I don't see how Forever is any more cringe than that. At least Batman had an arc in the Schumacher film.

Looking back at this comment I made a few years ago:

Frankly, I think it's extremely moronic if either Affleck or Keaton (or God forbid, both) get killed off and AT&T passes the opportunity in producing both actors' potential Batman spin-offs.

...

Killing both off would make zero business sense, and again, it would show the multiverse they promoted at DC FanDome last year is under false pretenses. Adopt the concept properly, or don't do it at all. I'm not interested in propping up only one live-action Batman to suit some corrupt studio's self-serving agenda.

Replace AT&T with James Gunn, Peter Safran and WBD, and sadly that's exactly what happened. But hey, f*** the Batman fan favourites, let's instead bring back all the flop Suicide Squad and Blue Beetle characters for our DCU.

[eledoremassis02]

I think the question is, "would Keaton of today walk out of Batman Forever"? This is the same guy who left because Shumacher asked him "why everything had to be so dark". Keaton did have some comedic moments as Batman, wich did take me out a bit.

And I really enjoyed The Flash.

But it kind of falls into alot of the same things Forever delt with, with identiy, loss, acceptance but also came off as cartoony, humorous and made Batman the but of the joke atleast once.

Funny enough both Forever and Flash cut out plot points that added to their characters actions.

[The Laughing Fish]

I think the question is, "would Keaton of today walk out of Batman Forever"? This is the same guy who left because Shumacher asked him "why everything had to be so dark".

That's a good question. I get the impression Keaton came back because he was given an offer too good to refuse. Starring in The Flash and a planned Batman Beyond project, as well as making additional appearances with much less screen time? On one hand, I can kinda understand why he didn't reject any of this. But on the other hand, he didn't need Batman either because his career has objectively never been better.

Put it this way, I doubt the same Keaton who walked out from Schumacher and Forever because he knew everything was going towards a lighter direction would never sign on a project he didn't understand, as it was rumoured while he was working on The Flash. I didn't expect Keaton to keep up to date with the turmoil at WB over the years, but his agent should've known better and let him know what he was getting into. Instead, Keaton is in company with the other Snyderverse actors who got screwed over.

Funny enough both Forever and Flash cut out plot points that added to their characters actions.

I thought the fan edits and the Schumacher cut fleshed out Batman's arc in Forever. But I'm not convinced the deleted scene in The Flash that speculated the real reason for Batman's retirement wouldn't have gone anywhere anyway. Even if there is another deleted scene that expanded on this plot point further, would it have made anything coherent? Keaton's Bruce was supposed to survive in the newly reset timeline while everyone else not wanted by WB perished.

All this does is make me appreciate Kilmer's arc and Forever even more.