Credit: DC / Warner Bros.A classic Joker (Jack Nicholson) for a classic Batman (Michael Keaton)?
Undoubtedly the biggest draw for the newest DC Movie, The Flash (2023), has got to be the return of Michael Keaton’s Batman. Having been voted the most popular iteration of the character in the United States, DC Studios is definitely banking on the return of The Dark Knight to pull in audiences, and now there’s one more nod for fans to get excited about.
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By now, most movie-goers know the controversy surrounding the upcoming entry into the new DC Universe. By far, the issues surrounding the film center on the star, Ezra Miller, who plays Barry Allen/The Flash, but has also been embroiled in legal issues for over a year now. Despite those issues, James Gunn and Peter Safran are pressing forward with the new film.
No doubt this is due, in large part, because they feel they can recoup their investment in the film, but also, rumor has it that the movie will be the first film in the new DC Universe, rebooting the franchise moving forward. Regardless, as more and more promotional material comes forward, it’s become clear that the focus of the film won’t be so much Miller as it will be Keaton.
The star of Batman (1989) has been featured more and more prominently in images and trailers as the release date has drawn closer, and with good reason. Keaton is immensely popular, and his return as Bruce Wayne/Batman will be a huge nostalgic hit, despite Miller’s shady activity, and this latest trailer proves just how hard DC and Warner Bros plan to lean on that nostalgia.
The action-packed trailer gives a little more detail on what Barry Allen (Miller) will be up against and what he caused but also showcased just how involved Keaton’s Batman will be as well. What was even more surprising than Keaton’s significant screentime was the reference to the very villain that started it all.
A little over halfway through the trailer, Keaton paraphrases a quote said to Jack Nicholson’s Jack Napier/Joker in Batman, “You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.” A reference like this will probably be tossed in the film simply to boost nostalgia, but if DC is playing their cards right, audiences may just get to hear more about the Joker (Nicholson) and the fallout in Gotham City following his death.
With Keaton’s age, as well as the many Batsuits in the Batcave, fans know that he hasn’t been idle all these years but has been fighting crime for decades now. Will there be more references to the Joker (Nicholson), The Penguin (Danny Devito), or Catwoman (Michelle Pfieffer)? Or even other villains in the Rogue’s Gallery? Will fans see a Batcave full of treasures and trophies reminiscent of Batman: Beyond?
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Audiences will find out when The Flash comes to theaters on June 16, 2023. The movie stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash, Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, Michael Shannon as General Zod, with Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The movie is expected to follow Allen (Miller) as he travels through time to stop the murder of his mother, thereby trapping him in an alternate universe without metahumans.
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