Jeffrey Dean Morgan Hints at Bigger Plans for Flashpoint Batman (But Will We Ever See It?)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played Thomas Wayne in the DC Extended Universe, discusses the plans that initially were in place for his character. Speaking with Den of Geek, Morgan talked about his time in the franchise and shed a little bit of light on what Zack Snyder had in mind. He believes that if Snyder’s full vision had been realized, he would have portrayed Flashpoint Batman in a film at some point. Morgan acknowledged that Snyder had ideas for other DC movies but those obviously never came to fruition after Warner Bros. shifted its strategy for DC adaptations.

“Zack was gonna do more movies, and I think that there was a time when Flashpoint Batman would have seen these characters [Thomas and Martha Wayne] in a much bigger role,” Morgan said. “And that was part of the Zack world of all of it. And then [he] never got a chance to do that, unfortunately.”

Morgan’s lone DCEU appearance came in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Alongside Lauren Cohan’s Martha Wayne, Morgan is seen early on in the sequence depicting the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents. There was speculation Morgan could reprise the role in The Flash, which was said to be drawing from the Flashpoint storyline from the comics. In Flashpoint, Barry Allen tries to save his mother by going back in time to stop her from being killed. Doing this creates an alternate timeline, one where Thomas Wayne became Batman after Bruce was murdered. Martha Wayne went insane after the tragedy and became the Joker.

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Released in 2023, The Flash incorporated some elements from the Flashpoint story, but Morgan did not play Batman in the film. Instead, The Flash saw the return of Michael Keaton’s Caped Crusader. The movie was one of the last DCEU installments, premiering after James Gunn and Peter Safran became co-heads of DC Studios and started developing the DC Universe reboot.

It would have been fascinating to see Morgan bring Flashpoint Batman to life, but fans will probably be left wondering what could have been. With the DC Universe set to kick off in earnest this summer with Gunn’s Superman, the book on the DCEU has been closed as WB ushers in a new era. As captivating as Flashpoint Batman might have been, it seems unlikely that the studio would want to revisit material from the Snyder era. There are no rules preventing DCEU actors from joining the DCU (see: Jason Momoa playing Lobo), but the idea here is to wipe the slate clean with a fresh start. Additionally, casting Thomas Wayne doesn’t appear to be a priority for Gunn, who is eschewing Superman and Batman’s origin stories in the DC Universe. In The Brave and the Bold, Batman will be a veteran crimefighter mentoring younger members of the Bat Family.

Of course, nothing’s stopping Gunn from doing his own adaptation of Flashpoint down the line. As of this writing, there are no Flash-related projects in development (likely to create some separation from the 2023 film), but that could change after the DC Universe finds its footing. If Gunn decides to bring Flashpoint to the screen, perhaps he’ll give Morgan his shot to finally play Flashpoint Batman. Even if a different actor is in the role, Flashpoint Batman would be something worth exploring, putting a fresh spin on a character audiences are very familiar with.