New York Times reporter Brooks Barnes has offered some clarity on the ongoing wave of Michael Keaton x Batman hype, which was spawned by his recently published feature on Walter Hamada of DC Films.
The rightfully revered Keaton, of course, played the DC hero in Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Over the summer, it was reported that he was in talks to once again appear as the character in an upcoming The Flash movie. In the Timespiece in question, the character's future is mentioned multiple times, including a bit about two iterations running simultaneously:
"Coming up, for instance, Warner Bros. will have two different film sagas involving Batman—played by two different actors—running at the same time."
The universe-linking The Flash, meanwhile, is set for a 2022 release and—again, per the Times—will indeed feature two Batmans: Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton. As you've surely seen as of late, a follow-up tweet from Barnes quickly inspired a number of articles positing Keaton as the new main DCEU Batman:
As the ensuing articles stacked up, however, Barnes made a point to clarify that he was only referring to The Flash and "not a set of his own Batman films."
Separate from the DCEU confusion in question, notably, is Robert Pattinson's upcoming take on the character in Matt Reeves' much-anticipated The Batman.
In summary, we can expect Keaton as Batman in The Flash. We shouldn't, however, expect Keaton to embark on a multiple-film return to the character. Confusing, yes. But at least we've all been treated to several days of stories centered on Keaton, whose filmography is undeniably stacked with classics, Batman-related or otherwise.
