We all have plenty to say about the DCEU’s final film, The Flash, but one thing most fans seemed to have completely missed is that Michael Keaton’s Batman actually achieved what no other live-action version of the character ever has. He actually fixed Gotham City.
YouTuber Arris Quinones pointed out that, “No one’s talking about this part from The Flash, and it’s massive, okay? One of the coolest bits in the movie.” When Barry and Barry (Ezra Miller in both roles) show up at Wayne Manor, they find a very different Bruce Wayne. He is no longer the crime-fighter we last saw in Batman Returns. He’s much older and living a bit like a hermit. His hair is longer, and it looks like he’s living on the set of Netflix’s Wednesday.
But possibly the biggest surprise is that Bruce hasn’t been Batman for years because, according to him, Gotham doesn’t need him anymore. So, yes, Keaton’s Batman actually did what he set out to do. He cleaned up the city. There’s no more Joker or more Mr. Freeze. There’s no more Penguin or Catwoman. They’re all gone. And why? Because this version of Batman actually removes the problem entirely. As Quinones so bluntly puts it, “He unalives people. He freaking offs all of his villains… That’s why Gotham no longer needed a Batman.”
Look, nobody is saying Batman should go full Punisher. But if Bruce Wayne’s entire life’s mission was about saving Gotham, and Michael Keaton’s Batman actually accomplished that, doesn’t that make him the best one?
But, of course, that’s only one side to this story. Director Andy Muschietti explained in The Flash featurette that Bruce didn’t only retire because he felt Gotham was now safe. He also quit because he actually broke his own moral code. Muschietti said, “He did something that goes against his code and killed a criminal in front of [the criminal’s] child—not knowingly, but he still did it. Which is an exact mirroring situation of what happened to him when his parents were killed in front of him.”
Batman, who dedicated his entire life to preventing others from suffering what he did as a child and then become the cause of that same trauma for someone else. Muschietti continued, “He just couldn’t cope with it, and that’s why he decided to shut off his other side, Batman. He hasn’t been able to forgive himself.”
That one mistake haunted Bruce for the rest of his life. He was unable to forgive himself. So when we meet him hiding away in Wayne Manor in The Flash, he’s a man living in exile, trapped in his own guilt. Thankfully, by the film’s end, he manages to redeem himself by helping Barry fix his fractured timeline. And for the last time in his life, he becomes a hero again. He becomes Batman.
It’s also worth mentioning that before James Gunn and Peter Safran stepped in to take over the DC Universe, Keaton’s Batman was meant to appear in other DCEU films, like Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Batgirl, and possibly even starring in a Batman Beyond movie.
Still, even if his time as Batman is over, it’s great to know that Keaton’s version of the character remains the only one to truly achieve his purpose. Every other Bruce Wayne never got to retire. This Batman stopped because Gotham finally didn’t need him anymore. That’s something.
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