Ever since the co-CEOs of DC Studios announced their plans for Wonder Woman 3 and Man of Steel 2, or lack thereof, there has been a great bustle amongst fans with regard to the same. However, some more information has recently been spilled about several other DC projects that were scrapped, and it turns out one of them was a spin-off film titled Batman Beyond.
As per sources, the discarded Batman Beyond movie was going to have Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne along with Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman with the famous British screenwriter Christina Hodson being at the helm of the project. But because James Gunn and Peter Safran have been preaching about starting a clean slate and having some of the biggest superhero projects in store for the audience, who knows, maybe this spin-off film could also see the light of day in the foreseeable future.
All We Know About the Shelved Batman Beyond Film
Batfans are probably punching the air right now with yet another potential loss following Batgirl.
According to Umberto Gonzalez from The Wrap, the DCU had apparently been in the works to create a Batman spin-off project starring Batman Returns (1992) star Michael Keaton and Scarface actress Michelle Pfeiffer as the former’s romantic interest in the stunning suit of Catwoman.
Rumors claim that Christina Hodson, who was also overseeing screenplay of the now-cancelled Batgirl movie, had pitched the prospect of Batman Beyond to the studio executives before James Gunn and Peter Safran had taken over the titles of co-CEOs. But once that happened, the project was asked to be scrapped. Hodson had even begun the writing but then again, there wasn’t much she could do if the top authorities passed the order for the film to be discarded.
The movie was supposed to be an adaptation of the animated series with the same name which was developed by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, and was released as a part of the DC Animated Universe in 1999.
Will James Gunn and Peter Safran Revive Batman Beyond?
It looks like the studio’s plan for the reprisal of Keaton’s Caped Crusader was to set a base for him to ultimately pass on the esteemed title to Terry McGinnis, thereby establishing the latter as the new Batman in the DCEU. However, now that the DCEU has transformed into the DCU, things are bound to get altered.
Keaton, 71, first portrayed Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s Batman back in 1989 after which he reclaimed the role in the 1992 sequel, Batman Returns. And now, he is once again set to play the Dark Knight in Andrés Muschietti’s upcoming film starring Ezra Miller titled The Flash which is scheduled to release in June 2023.
What’s more is that Keaton was also said to have shot a cameo as Batman in the James Wan-directed movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, though it was later revealed that Ben Affleck’s Batman ended up taking over the part instead. But sources now claim that it might not even happen in the first place as neither of them are likely to feature in the 2023 film.
So, with the way the cards are currently shuffling about at DC Studios right now, the situation with Batman Beyond is wholly unpredictable and nothing concrete can be said about whether or not the project could hit the screens in the future someday. But the hope with regard to it continues to be strong.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
