Why Michael Keaton’s Batman Was Recast After Batman Returns

Following 1992’s Batman Returns, original Bruce Wayne movie actor Michael Keaton parted ways with the DC character for an important reason, giving way to another actor to take on the role. Keaton is one of the most commonly associated faces to the DC Comics staple character that is Batman. The actor was the first to play the brooding vigilante in the iconic Batman (1989). The movie, directed by Tim Burton, shied away from the more light-hearted live-action series with Adam West from the 1960s, instead offering a more somber take on Batman and Gotham City.

Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman joined Keaton’s Bruce Wayne in the actor’s second time in the role, with Batman Returns presenting an even more intense look at the gritty world of the crime-ridden Gotham City. However, Batman Returns didn’t quite find the level of success that its predecessor did. Batman Returns ended up being more divisive in comparison to 1989’s Batman, as well as garnering a lower total box office. Those factors led to the decision to replace Burton with director Joel Schumacher, and Keaton did not return as the Dark Knight for Schumacher’s Batman Forever.

Why Michael Keaton Didn’t Return As Batman For Batman Forever

The Batman actor quit the role, as Keaton himself revealed in an interview with Backstage early last year. According to Keaton, the actor met with 1995’s Batman Forever director Schumacher about continuing in the role of the Dark Knight, even if Burton was not to return. However, the duo could not agree on the fundamentals of the story. Keaton wanted the movie to continue with Burton’s darker tone, while Schumacher was the studio’s choice to bring Batman into a more family-friendly atmosphere after the polarizing Batman Returns.

Keaton wanted the movie to retain the accurate depiction of Batman from the Burton duology and would not budge, with Schumacher even going as far as to tell the actor ‘I don’t understand why everything has to be so dark and everything so sad.” Keaton then recounted answering the notion, incredulous, with “wait a minute, do you know how this guy got to be Batman? Have you read… I mean, it’s pretty simple.” In the end, the director was hired to take the franchise in a more vibrant direction, which differed greatly from the Burton movies and Batman comics and which Keaton had no interest in being a part.

Who Replaced Michael Keaton As Batman?

With Keaton passing on the chance of returning as the Dark Knight, Schumacher then had to recast the role with a new actor. The part ultimately went to Top Gun star Val Kilmer. The actor had a boyhood dream of playing the character, which contributed to Kilmer signing on to do Batman Forever without even reading the script or knowing who the director of the movie was (according to the biographical documentary, Val) — a very different level of meticulousness to what Keaton showed when deciding if he would stay on the role. Schumacher would later recast Kilmer with George Clooney for his second movie — 1997’s Batman & Robin — saying Kilmer was very difficult to work with.

Michael Keaton Returns As Batman In The Flash Movie

Following the two lighter-in-tone — and less than stellar — Batman entries from Schumacher, the character would be rebooted with director Christopher Nolan. Christian Bale would lead Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, which focused on a younger Bruce Wayne dealing with his personal darkness, and embracing it to fight crime in Gotham as Batman. The darker tone of the story was much more in sync with what Keaton wanted Batman Forever to be. While Keaton did not get to play with that tone in the cancelled Burton Batman 3, the actor now has another chance.

After 31 years since he last played Bruce Wayne and his alter ego in 1992’s Batman Returns, Keaton is back at the role for DC’s upcoming The Flash movie, which releases this June. The film is DC’s biggest bet for the year, with the story centering on Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen traveling through the multiverse. The Flash will end up on the same Earth as Keaton’s Batman from Burton’s two movies. The film should explain what happened to Keaton’s version of the hero after Batman Returns, with The Flash‘s most recent trailer presenting an accurate depiction of the Burton movies’ Batman.