Years after the end of Zack Snyder's DCEU, the Man of Steel director's ever-so-perfect pick for a Flashpoint Batman actor has finally been confirmed. From 2013 to 2017, Snyder shepherded DC Comics' on-screen brand. The filmmaker never realized the full extent of his DC vision, being taken off 2017's Justice League and, thus, out of the franchise entirely. That has not stopped the filmmaker from sharing his extensive plans for the future of the Blue Brand, including tackling the iconic Flashpoint DC Comics story.
A recent interview seemingly revealed the actor that would have played Batman in Zack Snyder's Flashpoint film, and it is the perfect choice. The Flashpoint movie was just one of many DC Comics stories Snyder wanted to tackle with his DCEU but never got the chance to, with the super-powered universe being rebooted on the backs of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Speaking with Den of Geek, Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan disclosed that he was in talks to play Zack Snyder's Flashpoint Batman before the DCEU was rebooted.
Talking about the first time he and his Walking Dead co-star Lauren Cohen met, Morgan described getting to play Thomas and Martha Wayne together in Snyder's Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice:
Q: "I'm sure this has been brought up in the past, but I don't think I ever looked it up myself. Was it Zack Snyder's purpose to kind of play a joke on people by having you both play Thomas and Martha Wayne, or was it like your suggestion or something like that at that point?"
Morgan: "That was the first time we'd ever met or worked together, so this is well before.
Cohen: "Oh my gosh, I just forgot that. Just literally forgot that."
He then revealed that there were initial plans for him to play a Flashpoint version of Batman in the DCEU, but those ideas never came to fruition. "There was a time when Flashpoint Batman would have seen these two characters in a much bigger role," Morgan explained:
"So I don't think... The idea was, truthfully, that that Zack was going to do more movies and that I think that there was a time when Flashpoint Batman would have seen these two characters in a much bigger role. We never got a chance to do that unfortunately. But it was the first time that Lauren and I met. I remember meeting her for the first time and she had just started 'The Walking Dead' and I was a huge fan."
He joked that it was serendipitous that the Man of Steel filmmaker brought him and Cohen together before they shared the stage in The Walking Dead:
"So I remember peppering her with a lot of questions about 'The Walking Dead.' But no, I think Zack, luckily, just put us together. I don't know why or how, other than maybe thinking into the future what could happen. I think you'd have to ask [Scott M.] Gimple, 'cause maybe more of more of the joke is him casting us opposite each other.'"
This is not the first time Morgan has commented on the idea of playing an alternate universe Batman in the big-screen franchise, telling fans in 2022 that when Michael Keaton's casting in The Flash was the longtime Batman actor "[swooping] in and [taking his] gig."
Zack Snyder's Flashpoint film never saw the light of day. However, some have assumed elements from the project made their way into 2023's The Flash film starring Ezra Miller and Michael Keaton.
Instead of any further stories in Snyder's vision of the interconnected comic book universe, the DCU will be rebooted this summer with the release of James Gunn's long-awaited Superman movie.
What Did We Know About The DCEU Flashpoint Movie?
Zack Snyder's Flashpoint may have been stopped in its tracks before fans ever got to see it, but that does not mean the project was a completely known quantity among fans.
The movie would have likely served as a culmination of the first era of Snyder-led DC storytelling, being one of the Blue Brand's biggest multiversal stories, essentially creating the DC Multiverse and changing the continuity forever.
The rumors were that the Flashpoint film would have featured Reverse Flash as its primary villain, seeing heroes like Henry Cavill's Superman, Ben Affleck's Batman, and Ezra Miller's Flash teaming up with heroes from across multiple realities (including Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Batman) to take on the sinister speedster.
Also, at this point, The Flash movie would have reportedly served as a key building block toward the event film, and it would have ended by "reboot[ing] the universe and introduce[ing] a new cast."
This could have seen characters like the OG Snyder DCEU trinity swapped out for other actors, with someone like Morgan stepping into the super-powered role for any future appearances in the franchise moving forward.
Morgan previously said appearing in the Flashpoint movie would have been "very fun," but with the DCU reboot incoming, fans will now never get the chance to see it.
