Zach Snyder wants Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Batman

Warner Bros. is making a solo Flash movie! Zack Snyder wants to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played Thomas Wayne in Batman v Superman, back in a new way.

The upcoming Flash movie, with Ezra Miller in the lead role and Andy Muschietti in the director’s chair, will open up the DC multiverse, meaning Warner Bros. could be getting ready to create all kinds of off-the-wall alternate universe DC movies. They’ll have to, if they want to hit their goal of four new DC movies per year, plus spinoff HBO Max series.

The Flash is loosely based on the Flashpoint story by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert. In that story, the Flash travels to the past to try and stop his mother from being murdered. But when he returns to his own time, reality is completely different. Superman is imprisoned. Wonder Woman and Aquaman go to war with each other, and Bruce Wayne is no longer Batman…instead, Bruce’s father Thomas Wayne is a Batman, his son having died in that alley all those years ago. Things get really, really messed up.

We don’t know how closely the Flash movie will hew to this template, but we know we’ll see a few different Batman, including Michael Keaton to the role after decades away, if all goes well. It’s possible we’ll see the Thomas Wayne version of Batman, too.

Thomas Wayne has appeared in the DC Extended Universe before, played by The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And Snyder would love to see him return! “I’ll be honest, I don’t think it was [the intention],” Snyder told TheFilmJunke when asked if Morgan’s role in the earlier movie was setting this all up. “When I did hear about [the alternate Batman], I was like, ‘Oh, that seems like an easy [choice] … Clearly, he can do the work, that’s no problem. But I don’t think they’re doing it.”

That’s a shame, but hey, if Snyder saw something in Morgan’s Thomas Wayne maybe Muschietti will too. “I will say that I love Jeffrey Dean and I cast him because I liked the idea that Thomas Wayne was like a bit of a tough guy — not a pushover,” Snyder said.

"I like also the duality that that might’ve been the reason why they got shot — was that he didn’t give his wallet right away. He tried to fight back a little bit, which I think is a thing that has haunted Bruce in some ways. I did that shot where Jeffrey Dean makes the fist and it looks like he’s gonna try and punch [the mugger], and that’s right in front of the kid. I thought that was like a pivotal sort of moment for Bruce. How do you confront violence that’s completely life-altering and unfeeling and merciless? You have to sort of become that yourself a little bit."

Will Jeffrey Dean Morgan be involved in The Flash? We’ll find out when the movie premieres on November 4, 2022.

The superhero multiverse appears to be a big part of the future of both the DCEU and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with previous Spider-Man returning for the film in addition to old versions of villains like Electro (Jamie Foxx) and  Doc Ock (Alfred Molina). No matter your style of superhero movie, things are about to get weird.

And as for more of Zack Snyder’s take on all things DC, look out for the Snyder Cut on HBO Max in March!

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels

h/t SyFy Wire