New set photos from The Flash. Keaton’s Batman is set to replace Ben Affleck’s iteration as the DCEU’s Dark Knight, and the Batgirl set photos strongly imply a new history for him and the post-The Flash DCEU.
Michael Keaton’s Batman belongs to Earth-89, which includes Batman & Robin, were created as sequels to the Tim Burton films, but they’ve recently been established to take place in a separate continuity, Earth-97. Earth-89 will return in The Flash, but its Batman likely won’t be the same by the end of the film.
While Keaton’s reprisal of the Batman role has been marketed for The Flash, his Batman will be included in 2022’s Batgirl as well, with set photos confirming him to be part of the DCEU. Recent photos show what appears to be younger versions of both Keaton’s Batman and J.K. Simmons’ James Gordon. Since Earth-89 already has a Commissioner Gordon (played by Pat Hingle) and the DCEU’s version was last shown interacting with Ben Affleck’s Batman, the photos indicate a significant continuity shift for both Earth-89’s Batman and the DCEU.
The Flash will be an adaptation of DC Comics’ Flashpoint storyline which ended the post-Crisis “New Earth” continuity and replaced it with “Prime Earth,” relaunching DC titles under the “New 52” branding. The Flash is expected to similarly reboot the DCEU continuity, though perhaps not as universally. The replacement of Ben Affleck’s Batman with Michael Keaton’s version.
By showing younger versions of Simmons’ Gordon and Keaton’s Batman, the Batgirl set photos indicate that the histories of both characters are being rewritten, with Keaton’s Batman having always been the Dark Knight of the DCEU. While perhaps retaining some elements of his Earth-89 history, Keaton’s Batman appears to have become a combination of the character in the Tim Burton films and Ben Affleck’s DCEU Batman. Earlier Batgirl set photos further prove this point through their depiction of Robin.
As shown in Batman ’89, Earth-89’s Batman has a Robin, but he’s an original character named Drake Winston. A Batgirl set photo shows a Gotham City mural depicting Keaton’s Batman with a comic-accurate Dick Grayson Robin, further proving that Keaton’s Batman will have his history rewritten by The Flash. In the original DCEU, Dick Grayson was murdered by The Joker, leading to Ben Affleck’s Batman becoming bitter and cruel, but the post-The Flash timeline may have spared Grayson, perhaps having him become Nightwing before the events of Batgirl. Michael Keaton will return as Batman once more in Batgirl, but he’ll likely have a different history from his Earth-89 counterpart.
