Why Michael Keaton Walked Away From Batman (And Returned For The Flash)

Michael Keaton has got to be one of the most interesting actors in Hollywood. Coming from the world of stand-up comedy, Keaton's expressive physicality and kinetic energy was well-suited to his early everyman roles, such as stay-at-home dad Jack Butler in 1983's "Mr. Mom." But as his career progressed, the Pennsylvania native showed how his comedic sensibilities actually gave his dramatic roles a quirkiness that made him a truly unique performer.

Anyone who's seen Hulu's "Dopesick" or the Oscar-winning "Spotlight" will know Keaton can do drama as well as anyone. But his performance in 1989's "Batman" remains one of the most fascinating of his career, precisely because it saw the actor convey real darkness and personal anguish, all while hinting that he quietly appreciated the absurdity of a man dressing in rubber and waging a one-man war on criminals. There's a scene in the Tim Burton-helmed film wherein Keaton's Bruce Wayne invites Kim Basinger's Vicky Vale to Wayne Manor for dinner, and the two eat at opposite ends of a giant table. When Vale compliments the room, Wayne responds by saying, "I don't think I've ever been in this room before." That idea came directly from Keaton, who recognized the importance of keeping Batman dark while adding hints of levity to make sure it didn't become oppressively grim.

But after the sequel, 1992's "Batman Returns," scared kids across America, Warner Bros. decided to lighten things up a bit. Danny Devito's bile-spewing Penguin, a plot involving drowning the first-born sons of Gotham, and a homicidal Batman had jeopardized the studio's all-important relationship with corporate sponsor McDonalds, who had plastered Happy Meals with "Returns" branding. And so, much to Burton's relief, Warners turned to director Joel Schumacher to make Batman kid-friendly again, causing some issues for Keaton...

When Michael Keaton was cast as Batman, comic book fans were outraged. We've seen this story play out numerous times since — an actor is cast in a role with widespread popularity, only to be met with outrage from fans of the original material. Even Robert Pattinson, who did an honorable job in the lead role for Matt Reeves' "The Batman," faced his share of backlash.

But Keaton, who was coming off his starring role in Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice," was the original controversial casting choice. Fans just couldn't see the man known for his comedic and romantic comedy outings as the Dark Knight. But what they didn't understand was Keaton knew what it took to play the character convincingly. Specifically, that Bruce Wayne had to be seriously depressed and neurotic in order to dress up like a bat — something which Keaton reveled in playing.

As the actor told In The Envelope: The Actor's Podcast:

"I know the name of the movie is 'Batman' and it's hugely iconic and very cool and culturally iconic [...] [But] I always knew from the get-go it was Bruce Wayne. That was secret [...] from a character perspective it's about Bruce Wayne. Who's that guy? What kind of person does that?"

That set a precedent for both "Batman" and "Batman Returns," whereby Keaton would portray a brooding version of the legendary billionaire, lost in his own trauma and not overly concerned with keeping up the "playboy" persona that other iterations of the character are known for. Unfortunately for him, once "Returns" proved a little too dark, that approach would no longer fit with Warner Bros.' vision for Batman.

One hugely influential piece of Batman history on Michael Keaton and Tim Burton's films was Frank Miller's seminal 1986 graphic novel "The Dark Knight Returns." Keaton explained how that particular take on Batman, with its socio-political commentary and decidedly grim tone, was what drew him to the role initially. Speaking on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast back in 2013, the actor recalled how Burton told him to read the graphic novel, after which they agreed to meet for coffee:

"Everything I said his head was nodding [...] [Bruce Wayne is] ridiculously depressed, he's a vigilante, he's got this issue, it's so obvious you know [...] and then he goes 'yeah, that's what I want to do, it's exactly what I want to do.' [...] he just had such a clear take, that really changed everything."

But once "Batman Returns" — still one of the best Michael Keaton movies – had seemingly lent too hard into that darker take on the character, Warner Bros. was keen to go in a different direction. They promptly drafted in Joel Schumacher, who's 1987 effort "The Lost Boys," proved he had a knack for capturing younger generations with darker material. Sadly, Schumacher's vision for a third Batman film didn't sit right with Keaton, who was still set to appear in the film despite Burton's departure.

As the actor continued to tell Marc Maron:

"I was having meetings about the third one. I said, 'You want to see how this guy started. We got a chance here to fix whatever we kind of maybe went off, this could be brilliant.' [They] didn't want to do it, so I didn't want to do it. Tim was out, this was a new director, and I could see that was going south."

Michael Keaton, whose directorial debut "Knox Goes Away" arrives soon, elaborated on why he saw the Batman series going south in his In The Envelope interview, where he cited a moment where Schumacher told him outright, "I don't understand why everything has to be so dark and everything's so sad." Keaton responded, "Wait a minute, do you know how this guy got to be Batman? I mean, it's pretty simple."

What Tim Burton and Keaton had done with their first and second movies, which was so influential, was to bring Batman back to his roots as a dark figure of the night. But that no longer fit with Warner Bros.' and Schumacher's plans, and in 1995 "Batman Forever" debuted with new actor Val Kilmer in the lead role, making a hefty $336 million at the global box office. And considering Keaton told The Hollywood Reporter that he balked at the original pitch for "Forever" to the extent that he thought, "I just can't do it. I'll blow my brains out. I Just can't live with myself," it's probably a good thing that he didn't take the job.

That would seemingly be the end of Keaton's Batman career. But as we all know by now, he'll soon be donning the cape and cowl once again to return as the Dark Knight in Andy Muschietti's "The Flash." And according to the 71-year-old, returning to the role that had made him a mega star was too interesting an opportunity to pass up.

Due out in July 2023, "The Flash" will feature Michael Keaton's Batman heavily, as Ezra Miller's Barry Allen crosses into an alternate timeline in search of his mother, only to cause some cataclysmic events, ultimately enlisting Keaton's Batman help to put things right. Which means, some 30 years after he bowed out of the franchise he helped establish, Keaton will return as the Dark Knight.

According to his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the prospect of coming back was genuinely intriguing. The actor said:

"I thought, 'Boy, what would that be like?' [...] It has to be good. There's no reason to do it if it's not good. It's not gonna really change anything. And I just jumped in and had fun. And why would you not? You know, I mean, director Andy Muschietti is fantastic, and it's really creative. I don't know. It's fun."

Keaton's Batman has a significant role in the movie, and as the first trailers for "The Flash" have revealed, we'll be getting a glimpse at a retired version of his crime fighter, who judging by the array of batsuits shown off in the teaser, has had quite the career since we last saw him in "Batman Returns." Whether it is in fact "good," as Keaton put it, remains to be seen, but the movie has reportedly tested well, with new DC Studios co-head James Gunn calling it "one of the best superhero movies [he's] ever seen."

At this point, I'm a little concerned that Michael Keaton's Batman return could just be a nostalgia play. After all, Michael Keaton remains the best Batman and I'd hate to see him show up in a movie where he and the director aren't aligned on their vision of the character as a dark, depressed loner.

Ironically, considering Keaton bowed out after he felt Schumacher was taking the franchise in too light-hearted a direction, we could have seen even more of that loner in "Batman Forever." There is a version of the film which is a lot darker than the theatrical cut, and dedicated fans have long been clamoring for the "Schumacher cut" to see the light of day.

As screenwriter Akiva Goldsman explained:

"In the screenplay and in the movie that we shot there is a very different center of the movie where [Bruce Wayne] opens up the book and the last entry is, 'Martha and I want to stay home tonight but Bruce insists on going to see a movie.' And so the idea was that somewhere Bruce remembered and had repressed his fantasy that this was all his fault [...] And so the whole movie was actually built around this kind of psychological reckoning [...] It was a much more complex, really kind of fun, but much darker, version of the movie."

That movie exists in the Warner Bros. vaults somewhere, and would be incredible to see cut together. It also seems like it would have been a great fit for Keaton's brooding Bruce Wayne, which raises the question of just how Schumacher pitched this project to him all those years ago. Let's hope we get to see some of that darker, "psychological reckoning" in "The Flash."