After a wild and eventful DC FanDome 2021, DC fans from across the company's vast landscape are building anticipation for everything coming to theaters and TV over the next few years. The DC Extended Universe in particular is looking to bring its most jam-packed year in history for 2022, including Ezra Miller's The Flash after years of development issues.
FanDome 2021 delivered this movie's first official footage over a year before its release, teasing two different Barry Allens and Sasha Calle's Supergirl in Michael Keaton's 1989 Wayne Manor. Keaton's return as Batman has driven much of the discussion surrounding The Flash for more than a year, and it went to new levels of crazy coupled with news that Ben Affleck's Caped Crusader would join the fray as well.
The DCEU Multiverse looks to be fully unleashed in Miller's first solo movie, and considering Batman's consistent popularity over the decades, this dark hero seems to be the perfect one to push this concept forward.
As it turns out, both actors behind the cape and cowl are enjoying this expansion the same way the fans are.
Keaton and Affleck All-In on Caped Comebacks
In an interview with Bilibili, via Reddit, The Flash producer Barbara Muschietti shared details about her experience seeing both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck suit up as Batman for the 2022 solo movie.
Muschietti revealed that it was a "quite emotional" experience seeing both of them in costume, bringing two generations of Batman fans together for The Flash. As for the actors themselves, she saw both of them take in "the small joy" that's part of playing Batman and reveled in how much fun both of them had in their returns:
"It was amazing to see that both of them, both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton, got quite emotional at coming back once they were with us and they got to put on the cowl and the cape. I think they both felt the small joy that comes with playing that character back and had fun with it, it was a great experience."
The Return of the Batmen
The Flash will be the first time in DC history that multiple live-action Bruce Waynes will play any sort of role alongside each other in the same movie. Especially considering the circumstances behind Affleck and Keaton's comebacks to the role, it seems only right that this would be quite the emotional experience making this new solo movie.
Affleck has been open on numerous occasions about his struggles with playing the role, so much so that he was expected to retire for good after the tumultuous Justice League in 2017. Meanwhile, Keaton spent nearly three decades away from his own cape and cowl, although it's been a smooth transition taking on the on-screen superhero responsibilities once more.
The big mystery now is how the two versions of Bruce Wayne will play into the movie together, although their appearances alone are enough to get fans excited about this long-awaited Scarlet Speedster journey. Once more footage is shot and in post-production, there will hopefully be a better idea of how it will all play out, although the emotions alone are building something special.
The Flash has completed filming and will debut in theaters on November 4, 2022.
