When Warner Bros. took over the legendary Hall H at Comic-Con, fans around the world were eagerly awaiting new information – any new information at all – about the future slate of DC Extended Universe movies. In amongst teases of Aquaman, and the reveal of the new Justice League trailer, the biggest surprise came in the form of an overhaul for what was previously referred to as The Flash.
The production, which has been troubled to say the least, has not yet successfully got off the ground, and Warner Bros. announced an entirely new direction for the project – turning it into an adaptation of the Flashpoint arc from the comics. In it, The Flash uses his power to travel back in time and prevent the death of his mother, but in doing so, creates an entirely new timeline – in which the Wayne family meets a different fate.
Rather than being murdered, Thomas Wayne – father of Bruce – is the billionaire that becomes a vigilante, and this fact now has fans speculating that we might see Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead) as Batman. The actor played Thomas Wayne in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and, since the DCEU is supposed to be a cohesive cinematic universe, it would therefore follow that he would become the even darker Dark Knight in Flashpoint.
It’s not the first time such speculation has cropped up, either. Morgan was asked about it almost a year ago – before any such plans to film Flashpoint had surfaced publicly. He claimed to know nothing about a movie version of the story at that time, but further comments at a different, later event suggested that the actor is already more than a little familiar with this version of Batman.
“Zack [Snyder] and I go back to Watchmen days, so I’ve got a little relationship with the DC losers. He called me a year before we shot that [Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice]… I met Lauren [Cohan]. It was great. I still see Lauren. It was great, and yeah, is there another plan for that Thomas Wayne character? We’ll see. I don’t know. I would love to be dark Batman. That’s the darkest Batman there is. God knows I embrace darkness. Flashpoint Batman would be like doing comedy compared to being Negan [on The Walking Dead].”
So, could Jeffrey Dean Morgan, as the darker Flashpoint Batman, be a part of the future of the DCEU? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place!