Much like with Heath Ledger as the Joker or Daniel Craig as James Bond, it’s now impossible to imagine that moviegoers weren’t immediately enamored with the idea of Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman the moment his casting was announced. However, initially, Keaton’s comedic exploits in ’80s cinema inspired folks across the planet to protest his casting in Tim Burton’s Batman. Such qualms proved ill-founded. Keaton was an excellent Batman across Batman and Batman Returns. Both of his star vehicles as this character continue to influence pop culture today, while his Batman is still beloved by audiences of all ages.
Keaton wasn’t the first person to play Batman in a theatrically released movie, but he was the first in a quick succession of various live-action Batman titles that Warner Bros. has kept pumping out to this very day. Since the days of Michael Keaton, it’s become customary for talented actors like Christian Bale and George Clooney to take on this character for a brief time before passing it on to someone else. This role doesn’t just belong to one actor, yet Keaton could’ve stuck around even longer in the part if he hadn’t been replaced for Batman Forever for one major reason.
Why Did Batman Forever Replace Michael Keaton?
While Batman and Batman Returns helmer Tim Burton was MIA from what would become Batman Forever from the get-go, Michael Keaton was originally not absent from this tentpole. As late as September 1993, Keaton remarked that he would “probably” play Batman again under the direction of new filmmaker Joel Schumacher, an artist Keaton only had positive things to say about. All things seemed to be pointing towards Keaton rounding out his original Batman stint with a trilogy-capper that would’ve seen his superhero fighting the Riddler.
However, as work progressed on Batman Forever, Keaton grew dissatisfied with the screenplay. Even with Warner Bros. dangling a $15 million payday in front of him to reprise Batman, Keaton trusted his creative instincts and bolted from the project. That September 1993 interview, despite featuring Keaton expressing admiration for Schumacher, offered a peek into the notion that this actor was done with the role. After all, the interview opens with an anecdote of how Keaton was mobbed by inquisitive people at a comic book shop just a few days earlier. Being in the limelight already had major drawbacks for Keaton. Did he want to combine that with anchoring and promoting a movie he didn’t feel 110% confident in?
[RELATED – This Might Be the Weirdest Batman Ever (and We Need Him Back ASAP)]
Thus, Michael Keaton left Batman Forever and the quest to find a new Batman began. With Keaton’s departure, Batman became the newest James Bond in that it was now a character that actors could step in and out of at a whim. Like 007, Batman was now bigger than one man, including Val Kilmer, who was hired to replace Keaton. Rejecting Batman Forever, meanwhile, opened the door for Keaton to appear in late ’90s movies like Jack Frost and Jackie Brown.
Michael Keaton Wasn’t Done With Batman
With that, the door seemed to close on Michael Keaton’s era of Batman, especially as the character’s 21st-century cinematic exploits began evolving drastically from his two Batman movies. However, major studios embracing the multiverse for superhero yarn in the 2020s offered up a big opportunity for Keaton to come back. He reprised his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in 2023’s The Flash, with that film’s titular superhero encountering Keaton’s Batman through multiverse shenanigans.
Not only that, but reports emerged in mid-2020 that Keaton’s Batman was being eyeballed to take on a role akin to Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the next era of DC Extended Universe titles. Rather than replacing Ben Affleck’s Batman with a new actor, the DCEU was angling to return to one of the first Batman actors. With Keaton also shooting cameos as Batman for Batgirl and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, there was a moment where it looked like Keaton’s appearances as Batman in the 2020s would outnumber how many solo Batman movies he headlined.
Only Keaton’s Flash appearance came fully to fruition, though. This 2023 tentpole offered viewers a brief return to the days of Keaton as Batman, but that’s all it ended up being. Beyond that DCEU feature, Keaton has carved out an exciting career far removed from the borders of Gotham City. Meanwhile, given the decreasing enthusiasm for ’90s Batman movies, his jumping ship after Batman Returns turned out to be a savvy move. After all, nobody lasts as Batman on the silver screen forever.
1989’s Batman is now streaming on Max.
The post The Reason Michael Keaton Was Replaced as Batman Won’t Surprise DC Fans appeared first on ComicBook.com.
