Written By Mikey Sutton • Editor-in-Chief • Owner
Ben Affleck could make a surprise return as Batman in a potential sequel to The Flash. No, this isn’t a rumor. It’s actually something significantly better. Flash director Andy Muschietti said it himself in a new interview. Earlier this month it was revealed that Sasha Calle’s Supergirl is included in The Flash 2 script.
Thus, Calle may still have a future at DC although it’s uncertain if she will be the Girl of Steel in DC Studios’ planned Supergirl movie. If The Flash is successful, it could open the Elseworlds aspect of the DC multiverse to continue director Zack Snyder’s Justice League timeline.
Muschietti now teases that The Flash might not be Ben Affleck’s final turn as Batman. He said:
The truth is that the multiverse allows everything to happen. As Bruce Wayne says [in The Flash], there are infinite timelines and inevitable intersections, and that’s one of the things that excited me about portraying the multiverse in this movie, is that it opens up the possibility to bring people back the moment you’d least expect. So I would like to think that it’s not a send-off – we’ll see.
Certainly, it’s easy to be cynical.
Many fans, SnyderVerse and otherwise, felt betrayed when DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn jettisoned Henry Cavill after the actor said he was still Superman. Cavill’s post-credits cameo in Black Adam turned into a road to nowhere. Others might believe that this is a marketing gimmick to sell more tickets to The Flash.
It isn’t.
Ben Affleck’s Batman Could Make Surprise Return In Potential Flash 2
Image: Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery can’t afford to lessen the little trust DC followers have for them. The Flash‘s success is really dependent on two factors. The first is word of mouth. The Super Mario Bros. Movie and now Transformers: Rise of the Beasts took off at the box office due to positive feedback from moviegoers.
Second is the nostalgic appeal of Michael Keaton’s Batman. Thus far, the WBD’s publicity department has put the spotlight on Keaton, much of it to distract from Ezra Miller’s scandal baggage.
And it seems to be working.
There’s a real buzz on Keaton’s comeback. After all, it’s been over 30 years since Batman Returns, Keaton’s then-goodbye as the Dark Knight.
I don’t think Muschietti hinting that Ben Affleck is perhaps isn’t over as Batman would move the needle. In fact, it’s not worth the risk if there’s no payoff.
On May 29, we leaked The Flash‘s post-credits scene courtesy of YouTube power scooper Syl Abdul. In it, Ezra Miller’s the Flash is trying to return to his timeline that has Ben Affleck’s Batman. Those who despise Snyder’s work claim that it kills his universe. Of course, the anti-SnyderVerse crowd will twist anything to to propel their negative narrative.
Others will interpret it for what it truly sounds like: a cliffhanger. Will the Flash find his timeline with Ben Affleck?
Ben Affleck’s Batman Could Make Surprise Return In Potential Flash 2
Image: Twitter
Originally, during Walter Hamada’s DC Films regime, this was supposed to set up Crisis on Infinite Earths, the theatrical adaptation of DC Comics’ mid-’80s multiverse crossover. Now that Hamada is gone, so is that endgame.
Therefore, Muschietti will have the opportunity to answer Ben Affleck’s disappearance on his own. However, that won’t happen if The Flash bombs.
Affleck said he won’t work for Gunn’s DC Studios slate. He even debunked Gunn’s statement that he would. “Absolutely not” is about as definite as it gets. On the other hand, if it’s made, The Flash 2 will fall outside of that. It’ll be an Elseworlds project; it won’t be part of Gunn’s DCU.
Although Snyder won’t be a part of the DCU, The Flash franchise can keep elements, namely actors and their characters, alive.
Mikey Sutton made his professional writing debut in Movie Flash magazine in the Philippines in 1987 at the age of 18. He wrote for Amazing Heroes, Cinefantastique, and Fantazia in the ’90s. He was a staff writer for The All-Music Guide in the ’00s. He’s a three-time first-place winner at the Washington Press Association Awards. His comic book, Dreamwalker, will be an upcoming TV series directed by Mikhail Red and starring Kate Valdez. He is a proud Filipino-American.