How The Presence of Keaton’s Batman in The Flash Impacted Batgirl’s Fate

The big screen, standalone debut of The Scarlet Speedster (from DC Comics) in form of The Flash has finally seen the light of day and has also ended it’s less than stellar theatrical run.

Given how the movie criminally underperformed at the global box office. As WBD’s plan to tug at the heartstrings of fans and audiences [by flooding the feature with cameos & appearances of characters’ past] didn’t work.

A certain character’s arc in the film offers some insight as to why the Batgirl movie was decidedly scrapped. A movie that this revived character was also involved in. With his role in the wider franchise teased to have more prominence following the Batgirl movie. This of course contradicts with the temporary presence The Flash attributes to the character. Hence, cutting off his presence in the wider franchise. The character in question is none other than the recently hyped up Michael Keaton, Batman/Bruce Wayne.

Essentially, Keaton’s Batman [from the Tim Burton-led movies] was offered to take on the reigns of DCEU’s Dark Knight after Ben Affleck who had a fallout with the Warner due to both personal & professional reasons. This switch was to take effect after his introduction in Batgirl.

But be it by design or coincidence, Keaton’s Batman was also a part of The Flash’s story. And given the nature of how the character existence is played out in the movie. Where he isn’t setup as the main timeline Bruce Wayne/Batman but instead meets with an inevitable death contradicts with the intentions the Batgirl feature had for the character. And this is largely because, Batgirl was actually meant to exist firmly within the DCEU.

However, plans for a solo Flash movie have been ongoing long before a Batgirl feature was able to burst onto the scene.

It also doesn’t help that The Flash actually began and concluded its principal photography before Batgirl would even begin its own. Putting it ahead of Batgirl in terms of release reschedule which could inform how both projects exist in the greater DCEU franchise timeline. But even if the timeline revelance wasn’t tied to their release schedules. The existence of Keaton’s Batman in both movies is once again, contradictory. Or rather, confounding.

Therefore, between Batgirl already having gone ahead to make use of Keaton’s Batman as a major component in its story. And the pricy, hyped up nature of The Flash.

Ultimately, these could have led to the former being deemed unreleasable. Despite the fact that filming had concluded and post production was well underway, so much so that test screenings were conducted.

So how did we end up here?.

Well, of all this is reminiscent of Henry Cavill’s surprised return to DCEU as the character he’s portrayed, Superman. Following a cameo in 2022’s Black Adam. Which was then cemented by an official statement from the actor (via social media) the week after Black Adam’s theatrical release.

Of course, the story ends in tears as the appointment of Gunn & Safran as Co-heads of a new DC franchise for WBD would cause that promise to come to naught.

This shows that communication amongst Studio execs [up until recently] was sorely lacking. Particularly as the Warner Bros. was experiencing a change. Thus causing creatives who were working on these projects to be caught in the crossfires of miscommunication.

Perhaps it is kind of karmic that recent DC cinematic endeavours underperformed at the global box office. As this should no doubt cause the Studio to reevaluate and get their priorities right moving forward.

The Flash is now available for remote viewing.