Rumors regarding Christian Bale's comeback as Batman in The Flash were made more clear.
The Flash had no shortage of legacy stars portraying the Caped Crusader, even considering the film started off with one of Ben Affleck's last few scenes donning the cape and cowl for the DCEU.
This also came along with a long-awaited comeback by 1989 Batman star Michael Keaton and shocking appearances near the end of the film by George Clooney and even Adam West.
Christian Bale's The Flash Appearance Clarified
Movie director and superhero aficionado Kevin Smith took to Twitter to clarify comments that he made about Christian Bale appearing in The Flash as Batman.
During a live recording of the Fat Man Beyond podcast, Smith dove into his thoughts on the end of The Flash, in which he expressed feelings that Warner Bros. didn't shoot the ending George Clooney cameo until just before the film debuted.
He speculated that Warner Bros. was "asking Christian Bale for, like, months and months" with the hope that he'd cameo at the end before getting George Clooney for the moment:
"I think there’s a world where they hadn’t shot that until, like, fucking two weeks ago. It feels like they were like ‘It could be anybody,’ and I’m sure they were asking Christian Bale for, like, months and months hoping that he’d break down, and he was like ‘No.’ So they’re like ‘Alright, let’s pivot, let’s do another Batman.’ And they just grabbed George Clooney."
Unfortunately, following Smith's quotes, multiple credible outlets took Smith's quotes as being fully legitimate and ran with the news, noting that Warner Bros. definitively had sought out Bale to make the cameo.
Smith responded on Twitter, sharing a short section of the original comments and making it clear that his quote was pure "conjecture, not inside information," sharing an article on what actually happened with the cameo.
"What’s missing from this 'Fat Man Beyond' clip is when I said 'I think there’s a world' and 'It feels like'. It was just conjecture, not inside information. Here’s an actually credible The Hollywood Reporter article by Borys Kit about how that cameo was shot 6 months ago:"
The Twitter clip in question only shared the moment when he began discussing Bale, which seemed to indicate that the Dark Knight star was a part of discussions for The Flash.
Will Christian Bale Ever Return as Batman?
Considering how hard Warner Bros. and DC Studios went with The Flash only to see the movie become such a critical and financial disappointment, it seems highly unlikely that Christian Bale will be back as Batman anytime soon.
This debate for The Flash seemed to end before it truly got going thanks to insider rumors being debunked in April, although Bale's portrayal remains incredibly popular more than a decade after last suiting up.
Currently, DC Studios is working to continue Robert Pattinson's run as Batman in The Batman - Part II while also searching for a new main timeline actor to play Bruce Wayne, starting in Andy Muschietti's The Brave and the Bold.
The Flash is now playing in theaters worldwide.
