What Michael Keaton Could Look Like in a ‘Batman Beyond’ Movie

For many DC Comics fans, Michael Keaton will forever be the one true cinematic Batman. Keaton portrayed Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 and Batman Returns in 1992. Could he return to the role if DC Films ever adapted the DC Animated Universe series Batman Beyond?

Batman Beyond takes place in a future where Bruce Wayne has retired and passed on the Batman mantle to young Terry McGinnis. Wayne acts as the young hero’s mentor and benefactor. Having lived in almost complete solitude for years, Wayne is a bit rough around the edges socially. Even more so than during his Batman days.

Over the weekend, a tweet by one Adrian Gomez suggests that what fans really want, even if they don’t know it, is to see Keaton play this version of Bruce Wayne.

Gomez provided a side-by-side comparison, but artist BossLogic put the two together. He imagines what Keaton could look like if he played Bruce Wayne again. He also created a mock movie poster.

Keaton more recently has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Spider-Man villain the Vulture. Based on stories from Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland, Keaton hasn’t left his Batman role far behind.

“There’s a great scene – it’s not in the movie, it was cut short – where I carry the Vulture out of the flames when he nearly dies and I rescue him,” Holland said during a convention appearance, “and I lay him down on the sand and he says, I think the line was ‘Why did you save me?’ And I’m like, ‘because I’m Spider-Man,’ and then he goes, ‘But I’m Batman!’

“I will never forget that,” Holland says. “He was amazing to work with. Terrifying. That scene we shot in the car was so stressful, was so unbelievably stressful, and we shot it for a whole day and as soon as you’d call ‘cut’ he was like the nicest guy ever and you’d be talking about whatever, but then you’d call ‘action’ and he would sort of become this villain and I’d be like, ‘Okay, cut!’ But it was amazing to work with him.”

Batman Beyond was created by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Alan Burnett for Warner Bros. Animation. The series ran for 52 episodes from 1999 through 2001, as well as one direct-to-video film, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Would you like to see Michael Keaton return as Bruce Wayne in a Batman Beyond movie? Let us know in the comments!