Tim Burton's Batman Beyond Could Properly End Michael Keaton's DC Story
https://screenrant.com/batman-beyond-tim-burton-michael-keaton-story-end/
An adaptation of Batman Beyond helmed by Tim Burton could bring Michael Keaton's Batman arc to the end that it never got. Among the quite plentiful DC movie surprises of the past year, news broke this past summer that Michael Keaton is set to return to portray his version of Batman in The Flash movie. Ben Affleck will also return in the film as his incarnation of the Caped Crusader, with the Multiverse-spanning story of The Flash making the appearance of two different Batmen possible (some recent confusion that Keaton is replacing Affleck outright in the DCEU continuity has also been cleared up.)share
Keaton's return comes amid a major shift in how DC movies and television shows are handled via the aforementioned Multiverse angle, making it possible for properties such as the Batman films he made with Tim Burton to be revived alongside contemporary DC adaptations. By returning as Batman, Keaton has also given The Flash just the shot in the arm it's needed after the extreme difficulties and numerous directors that it has gone through. Indeed, news of Keaton's Batman appearing in the film has been greeted with such enthusiasm, his return clearly doesn't need to be a simple one-and-done.
It also didn't take long for the idea to arise that Keaton's return could pave the way for an adaptation of the animated series Batman Beyond set in the world of his Batman films. An exciting prospect at face value whether as a movie or an HBO Max series, recruiting Tim Burton to direct would make it even better, and not just for the stylistic continuity it would have with Batman and Batman Returns. Here's why a Tim Burton-directed Batman Beyond could give Keaton's Batman story its final chapter.
It also didn't take long for the idea to arise that Keaton's return could pave the way for an adaptation of the animated series Batman Beyond set in the world of his Batman films. An exciting prospect at face value whether as a movie or an HBO Max series, recruiting Tim Burton to direct would make it even better, and not just for the stylistic continuity it would have with Batman and Batman Returns. Here's why a Tim Burton-directed Batman Beyond could give Keaton's Batman story its final chapter.
It also wouldn’t be the first time Batman Beyond has been in some stage of development, with Warner Bros. having been developing the project in the early 2000s. Keaton’s legacy as Bruce Wayne already makes him more suited than any other Batman actor to reprise the role in an adaptation of Batman Beyond. A gap of literal decades since his last time as Bruce Wayne would make Keaton’s Batman practically tailor-made to revisited in this way. At the same time, a Tim Burton return to Gotham City could sweeten the deal even more.
Though his 21st-century output hasn’t had the same impact as his early days, there’s no mistaking a Tim Burton movie for the work of anyone else. From Edward Scissorhands to Sleepy Hollow, Burton has established a very distinct style and a voice among high-profile directors, and some of his best work has been in his collaborations with Keaton on Beetlejuice and their two Batman films. When it comes to Batman specifically, Burton’s interpretation is unmistakably his own, especially in the case of Batman Returns, for which Burton was quite clearly the captain of the ship.
The German expressionist architecture of Burton’s Gotham City, in particular, made his Batman films stand the test of time, beginning as a grimy urban bog of crime in the first Batman and evolving to Burton’s signature Halloween-Christmas amalgam in Batman Returns. A straightforward take on Batman Beyond would be exciting all on its own, so what could be better than to adapt it through Burton’s universe to put a Blade Runner-style spin on the Gotham City of his Batman films? Of course, continuity is the name of the game in today’s comic book movies, and fortunately, the chips are already on the table for that, too.
As mentioned above, Keaton’s appearance in The Flash is to be facilitated through the movie’s Multiverse elements. With the film taking inspiration from the Flashpoint comics story, Barry Allen’s time-travel powers are to be an integral aspect of the film, and as with Ezra Miller’s appearance on Crisis On Infinite Earths, Barry traveling from one universe to another is how Keaton’s Batman will be able to appear. This also does a lot more than just allow different characters from disparate DC movies and TV shows to meet. It also makes something like Batman Beyond possible in the first place, along with effectively killing the notion of DC reboots, too.