At the Los Angeles premiere of his new film The Boys in the Boat, George Clooney was asked whether he'd play Bruce Wayne and Batman again after briefly reprising the role for The Flash.
When asked about how his cameo for The Flash—which flopped at the box office grossing $270 million on a $220 million budget—came together, he joked that there was "such a clamor" for him to come back. "Why are you making that face? I saw the face," said Clooney as he pointed off-screen. "There was a clamor! I actually said, 'Where are my rubber nipples?' And they were like, 'Can we do it without the rubber nipples and I was like, 'Well it's not really my Batman is it?'"
Clooney originally portrayed Wayne and the Caped Crusader in the 1997 movie Batman & Robin, which was derided by critics and featured the actor in a Batman costume with prominent rubber nipples, for whatever reason. His appearance in The Flash is something of a joke, with Ezra Miller's Barry Allen asking, "Who the fuck is this?!"
Asked if he could be "convinced" to play Batman again, he clarified it was a one-time thing. "I don't think there's enough drugs in the world for me to go back and do it," he said with a smile.
Throughout the history of Batman in film, the character has been portrayed by a wide variety of actors. He was first depicted onscreen in live-action form by Lewis Wilson and Robert Lowery in the '40s, but it wasn't until Michael Keaton took on the iconic character for Tim Burton's Batman films in the '80s and '90s that he became the beloved cinematic vigilante. Keaton also reprised his version of Bruce Wayne for The Flash.
He was later portrayed by Val Kilmer and Clooney, each in one movie, and Christian Bale for Christopher Nolan's trilogy of movies. Ben Affleck, who appeared uncredited in The Flash, played the character numerous times in the DC Extended Universe, while Robert Pattinson most recently brought him to life in last year's The Batman.
