A world without Batman?
It almost happened in The Flash solo movie directed by Andy Muschietti and starring Ezra Miller as DC’s Scarlet Speedster, Barry Allen.
The Flash Writer Reveals Scrapped Batman Plan for Ezra Miller DC Movie
“We had a version where Bruce Wayne never became Batman,” John Francis Daley, who received script credit on the 2023 superhero movie with Jonathan Goldstein and Joby Harold, revealed to The Playlist. “And so, he was just this sort of billionaire party boy who’s aimless and doesn’t know what to do with his life. And we love the idea of sort of thrusting him into a hero position. That is not in the film. They made it Michael Keaton’s Batman. So not a lot survived.”
Daley and Goldstein have most likely disinherited The Flash, considering they were originally going to write and direct before parting ways with the project over creative differences.
The decision to bring back Tim Burton’s iteration of the Caped Crusader was obviously a gambit to exploit nostalgia, but the inclusion of Keaton could not save the ill-fated blockbuster, which opened in the wake of Miller’s legal troubles.
“We pitched this idea of a ground-level superhero where it isn’t entirely end-of-the-world stakes,” Daley told Variety in 2023. “He’s just learning his powers and is also somewhat dysfunctional with his life. The more imperfect we can make a superhero, the better, because that’s the inherent challenge: How do you give imperfection to someone that is, you know, physically perfect?”
Added Goldstein: “If we feel like the powers-that-be aren’t excited about making the same movie as we are, we’re not going to win that battle. And so it’s better to cut your losses and get out of there.”
Disappointing at the box office with $271 million worldwide (it cost at least $200 million to make), The Flash ultimately became the third-to-last entry in the doomed DC Extended Universe—quickly followed by Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
In addition, Keaton’s triumphant return was further hampered by Warner Bros. Discovery shelving Batgirl project indefinitely.
The new and improved DC cinematic universe—overseen by James Gunn and Peter Safran—now has two features under its belt Superman (2025) and Supergirl (2026), as well as the Creature Commandoes and Lanterns TV shows.
DC Studios will continue to chug along Oct. 23 with the big screen release of Clayface, a body horror take on the titular Batman baddie directed by Speak No Evil‘s James Watkins. Tom Rhys Harries (White Lotus) leads the Mike Flanagan-penned film as Matt Hagen, a disfigured actor who takes part in an experimental procedure to restore his handsome visage. The miracle treatment seems like a godsend for the fame-hungry Hagen until his skin starts to…misbehave.
