Multiple Batmen cut from Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom movie

The DC Universe is about to change. The network of movies that kicked off with 2013’s Man of Steel — the one with Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot — is being phased out to make way a new universe of movies headed up by James Gunn and Peter Safran, one where David Corenswet will play Superman, an unnamed actor will take on the role of Batman, and people will hopefully turn up in droves to fill up the coffers at Warner Bros. Discovery.

Of course, the studio will have to resolve the current actors and writers strikes before any of this can really come to fruition, but that’s another issue. For now, there’s still one movie left in the old franchise: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, starring Jason Momoa as the titular fish king. The first Aquaman movie made over a billion dollars, the biggest haul of any DC movie to date, so WBD is trying to make sure the sequel is as good as it can be. That means going through a third round of reshoots, which is unusual even for a movie of this size, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Per THR, some of the reshoots have been necessitated by scheduling and the shifting thinking on the value of the old DCU. At one point, the movie was going to include an appearance from Michael Keaton as Batman, who it was originally thought would be a Nick Fury-like figure uniting various heroes together. But then the release date for Aqauman 2 was moved up so it was coming out before The Flash, the movie that reintroduces Keaton’s Batman back into the DCU canon. So Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was reshot with Ben Affleck playing Batman instead.

But then release dates shifted again and The Flash tanked at the box office, so Gunn and other producers figured that it might be best not to tie the Aquaman sequel to the wider DC universe at all, which is probably a good idea. At the moment, neither Keaton nor Affleck appear in the movie. It’s Batman-free. “It was pretty chaotic,” said one source.

Throughout all of this, WBD has been holding plentiful test screenings to make sure the movie is as palatable as possible. It’s driving up the budget, but if the movie rakes in over a billion dollars like its predecessor, it’ll be worth it.

Will that happen? We’ll find out when Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom drops into theaters on December 20, 2023.

Barry Keoghan would “love another crack” at playing the Joker in The Batman sequel

So let’s recap: we have the old DC Cinematic Universe, where both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton played Batman (plus a surprise cameo at the end of The Flash). Another actor will play Batman in a new movie called The Brave and the Bold, which will be part of a new cinematic universe shepherded by James Gunn; we don’t know who it is yet.

Then, in a completely separate cinematic universe, Robert Pattinson plays Batman in The Batman, which has a sequel in the works. And presumably there’s a Batman over in the Joker universe, where Joaquin Phoenix plays the Clown Prince of Crime. That’s also a separate thing.

Man, that is a lot of Gotham Cities. Let’s focus on The Batman franchise for now. The first movie came out last year to wide acclaim and considerable box office success. It also featured a version of the Joker, Batman’s famous nemesis. But it wasn’t Joaquin Pheonix’s Joker. This Joker was played by actor Barry Keoghan, who is eager to come back for more, as he revealed on an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast:

"Obviously I’d love another crack. I’ve got a ton of back work done on him. If an opportunity does arise but, you know, they make the call, and I’ve got to respect that. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely, because I’ve got a few other things I’d love to bring. Actually, I have this little half-Moleskin book I’ve written a lot in already and so yeah, I want to show people what that is."

Keoghan sounds like he did a lot of homework considering he only appeared in The Batman for two scenes, one of which didn’t make the theatrical cut. As long as we can keep all these different versions of the character straight in our mind (oh man, they will probably be a new Joker for The Brave and the Bold, too), sure, why not bring him back?

When Cillian Murphy auditioned to play Batman in the Dark Knight movies

As long as we’re talking about once and future Batmen, did you know that Cillian Murphy, who played the Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, initially auditioned to play Bruce Wayne? Apparently it was at the request of Nolan himself, as Murphy detailed on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.

He, for some reason, wanted me to screen test for Batman, which I think I knew, and he knew, I was wrong for. And then he saw something in that and cast me as Scarecrow.

"I don’t think I’m the physical specimen to play Bruce Wayne…I actually tried on the Val Kilmer suit in the test, it’s quite roomy. It’s a fucking operation getting into those things, though. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right."

The role of Batman went to Christian Bale, whom Murphy has nothing but praise for. “He transformed himself into that role, and he’s done it many many times. I think he defined that role as Batman.” As for Murphy, he plays the title character in Nolan’s new movie Oppenheimer, so it all worked out.

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