The DCEU is hedging its bets on the multiverse in a big way by drafting in both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton to play Batman in The Flash, but no matter how many alternate realities and timelines Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen encounters during the film, even if it was ten hours long, you can guarantee that he’d never find his way into a universe where George Clooney is still suiting up as the Dark Knight.
Batman & Robin has a well deserved reputation as one of the worst comic book movies ever made, and killed the franchise stone dead less than a decade after Tim Burton had launched it with one of the most important and influential blockbusters of the modern era. There are pretty much no redeeming qualities whatsoever about Joel Schumacher’s neon and nipples extravaganza, and it performed so poorly that many analysts predicted the worst for Clooney’s long term prospects as a Hollywood leading man.
Of course, that didn’t turn out to be the case and the 59 year-old actor, director, writer and producer has become one of the most acclaimed and respected talents of his generation, picking up two Academy Award wins from eight nominations in the process. Despite such success, though, Clooney has long since resigned himself to the fact he’ll have to face at least one Batman question in every interview that he does from now until the end of time.
True to form, the Ocean’s Eleven star was recently asked if he’d been contacted about a potential cameo in The Flash, and he was quick to laugh off the mere suggestion, saying:
“It’s funny, you’ll notice they didn’t call me. Somehow I didn’t get that call. They did not ask for my nipples. Listen, there are certain things you never know. This one, I know.”
As hilarious as it would be to see George Clooney appear as either Bruce Wayne or his costumed alter ego over two decades after Batman & Robin, any big screen outing for the Caped Crusader would be wise to distance itself as far away from that movie as possible, and for good reason.