With Justice League now in cinemas, DC fans are wondering what’s up next for the franchise. One of the most intriguing projects in the works is Flashpoint, the alt-universe movie starring Ezra Miller, and though we know very little about it at the moment, there’s been a lot of talk about Jeffrey Dean Morgan turning up as an alternate version of Batman in the film, mostly due to his appearance as Thomas Wayne in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Let’s bring you all up to speed, though, before going any further. In 2011, Geoff Johns penned a five-issue miniseries titled Flashpoint that saw the Scarlet Speedster go back in time to save his mother. In doing so, he royally screwed up the timeline, creating a world filled with darker heroes, including the alternate Batman who’s actually Thomas Wayne, and not Bruce. Eventually, the Flash (kind of) set things right, thereby allowing DC to do a line-wide reboot in the form of the New 52.
In the time since, this arc has been quite faithfully adapted as an animated movie, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and served as loose inspiration for season 3 of The Flash TV series. But even with those existing, seeing it realized with a massive Hollywood budget is enough to make us hyperventilate.
Naturally, anyone even remotely familiar with the source material has been jumping for joy at the notion of Morgan playing an alternate take on Batman. If this were to pan out, it would be quite the milestone because no character other than Bruce Wayne himself has yet to take up the mantle on the silver screen, despite several others having done so in the comics.
And while it still remains unconfirmed if this will indeed happen, it’s looking more and more likely. Morgan himself has already teased it numerous times and this weekend, he’s done so once again. During a panel at Walker Stalker Con in New Jersey, the actor told fans that “there’s a role in the DC universe” that he has his eye on right now. He wouldn’t say anything further, and that obviously in no way means that it’s a done deal, but at this point, we’d be pretty surprised if it doesn’t happen. Seriously, DC would be absolute fools if they drop the ball on this.
Flashpoint has yet to confirm a director for production, and has been pushed back from a 2018 release to a possible 2020 arrival, but now that Ezra Miller’s interpretation of The Flash is becoming a fan-favourite, we can hopefully expect to see the project become a higher priority for Warner Bros. Which means that we might just get some confirmation of Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing Batman sooner rather than later.