Michael Keaton’s return as Batman has had plenty of hurdles to jump. Following the cancelation of Batgirl, and rumors of other Keaton cameos being cut fromAquaman and the Lost Kingdom, it seems that the future of the original big screen Dark Knight was in serious jeopardy of ending before it began. However,The Flashhas stopped that happening, and Keaton is soaring back to theaters as Batman this weekend. However, director Andy Muschietti recently revealed that Batman’s return needed a very important change to his iconic Batsuit to make the whole thing work.
As perEntertainment Weekly, Muschietti explained to audiences at a Los Angeles press conference how despite Keaton’s 1989 Batsuit being considered impressive visually, it was a nightmare to work with and that meant it needed an upgrade. He said:
“You know the story. He was like, ‘That old suit was impossible to work with.’ [Michael Keaton] was very frustrated because he couldn’t move his neck or anything. The design was perfect, but it’s very often in movies that the better a suit looks, the more uncomfortable it is.”
InThe Flash, Keaton returns as an older version of his character after being located byEzra Miller’s Barry Allenafter he “breaks the multiverse.” There has been plenty of hype over Michael Keaton stepping into the character’s winged costume again after 30 years, and it seems that it is just one of the highlights of what could be DC’s biggest cinematic hit for some time.
Related:Ezra Miller Makes Controversial Appearance at The Flash Premiere, Praises Director Andy Muschietti
Michael Keaton’s Batman was Essential to The Flash.
Many movie scripts are put together with certain ideas in mind that may never come to fruition. For Andy Muschietti, if Michael Keaton had turned down the chance to reprise one of his most famous roles, the director really didn’t have a back-up plan. He said:
“We wouldn’t have made this movie. We wouldn’t have been able to make this movie as it is. We made it clear to him the first time we sat with him for lunch if he had said no, it would have been a completely different story.”
Of course,The Flash’s story comes fromthe epic Flashpoint story arcfrom DC Comics, which in itself is a completely different story from the one that is being told on screen. Although some comic fans take issue with changes being made to the original characters and storylines when they are adapted for screen, it has been made clear that there was never any intention to exactly copy the Flashpoint storyline as Muschietti wanted to give fans some surprises even if they know the story. He said:
“We didn’t want to give the audience a literal adaptation of the comic book. I think that’s one of the good decisions that we made. If you see the movie, you don’t know where this is going. And as much as some people would’ve liked to see that literal adaptation, I think we did the right thing. I think that they will be gratified by seeing that the story takes another direction.”
