When an announcement was made a week ago that Michael Keaton was part of the cast list for the upcoming Warner Bros. movie, Batgirl — many fans of the DC realm were thrilled. Keaton is an incredibly talented actor, and his take on Batman fans love.
Some, however, were hoping to see more of Ben Affleck’s Batman and are vocal with their opinions and reasons they believe the decision to bring Keaton back was the wrong one. The thing about comic book films is that fans connect with an actor they feel wears the suit best, and it’s hard for them to let go. It happens across several realms, and it’s not exclusive to the comic book/superhero universe.
DC fans know that Affleck is coming back as Batman for the upcoming The Flash film, but he doesn’t seem to want to wear the cape beyond that. He’s made that pretty clear, and a good friend of Affleck’s is coming to the defense of Warner Bros. decision and Michael Keaton’s return for Batgirl. It’s worth noting, of course, that Warner Bros. has yet to confirm in what capacity (including the character he’ll play) Keaton will appear in the upcoming movie.
In a recent FMB episode (H/T, ComicBook.com) Smith defends Keaton as Batman.
“I’m a big fan of Michael Keaton as Batman. I was a big fan of Ben Affleck as Batman as well, but as we just saw recently in an interview, Ben was like ‘I’m not going to do IP movies anymore.’ So, Ben has made it clear for a number of years now that he’s done playing Batman. Not that Warner Bros. is done with him; he’s done with them. So they couldn’t use Ben as the Batman for this new Batgirl movie, and at that point, you’re already doing Michael Keaton Batman in Flash…it seems to make sense.”
In addition to coming to Keaton’s defense, he reminds fans that decisions are multifaceted and that some seem angry with the wrong person about the entire situation.
“I assumed Michael Keaton was as beloved for every generation as he is to mine, but some folks on Twitter were very angry about that — but angry at the wrong person. This ain’t a case of Warner Bros. screwing the pooch or something. The person they would like to keep playing Batman just doesn’t seem interested in playing Batman at all, and has made that very clear for a very hot minute. So in lieu of Ben, who else are you going to do? Bring on a brand-new Batman, start that? Obviously, Matt Reeves is doing a very different-from-the-DCEU-movies version of Batman, so you can’t get him. So it makes sense. If you need a veteran, an older guy, if you’re going to do this Batman Beyond version of Batgirl, where she’s kind of Terry McGinnis in training, and he’s the grizzled old vet or something? I cosign it because that was my Batman, that was our Batman. I mean, Adam West was my first Batman, but Michael Keaton was a wonderful Batman, and I think it’s crazy seeing people on Twitter going after that decision.”
Affleck recently honored his experience as the superhero with a nod to playing Batman in the upcoming DC Comics film The Flash. Speaking to Variety, he had this sentiment to share:
“It was a really nice way to revisit that as the prior experience had been difficult. This was really lovely. Really fun.”
DC fans will see both Affleck and Keaton as Batman in The Flash and (almost certainly) Keaton in Batgirl next year. We feel the storylines will wrap up lingering questions and concerns and allow us all to see why their casting choices were not only important but well thought out.