Those who grew up in the 1990s will always remember Batman: The Animated Series as the clearest and a defining portrayal of the Batman and the Gotham City Rogues Gallery. This series changed the entire outlook that people had about comics and also gave a complete face-lift as well as iconic roles to the villains.
While most of the earlier shows stayed rooted close to the DC comic Universe, it was the 1999 series Batman Beyond that was connected only to the The Animated Series. It is this precise reason that makes us feel that if ever a Batman Beyond movie is produced then it has to feature only Michael Keaton who is the perfect choice to portray Bruce Wayne on screen.
Once After Batman: The Animated Series and its successor The New Batman Adventures finished and announcement was made about Batman Beyond, we remained sceptical about the premise of a Batman show based on far away future. We wondered if it would be any good. However, as soon as the first episode aired, the answer was clear. Yes, it was definitely going to work as it was properly linked to the much appreciated TAS Universe and storyline. How did we come to know of this? The clarity came with the casting of Kevin Conroy as the old Bruce Wayne who would enact the part of the irritable Alfred as well as Oracle. Everyone considered Conroy to be the Batman’s voice. Once he was casted in the role, the character became real and more acceptable.
It was obvious that the choice of the actor who would play Terry in the Batman Beyond film, would invariably generate some debate, however, in our opinion there was only one right choice who could have played old Bruce Wayne. Michael Keaton is 66 and though the Wayne in the cartoon series is nearly 90, there are a lot of thigs going in favour of Keaton taking up this role.
The biggest factor in favour of Keaton playing old Bruce Wayne is that he has already played young Bruce Wayne in two Tim Burton films in 1989 and 1992 is pretty much the Batman version that we have grown up with. Just like Conroy, Keaton is also the best portrayal of the Dark Knight, even more convincing than Christian Bale (not to forget the fact that Bale is way too young to look convincing as old Bruce Wayne). The connection with an ageing Batman will come naturally with Keaton since we have seen his films repeatedly over the last couple of decades. Even if we go for an older actor, Val Kilmer or George Clooney certainly don’t fit the bill as well. Do they?
Alejandro González Iñárritu’scast Keaton in the Oscar-winning movie Birdman, for this very reason, irrespective of all the roles that Keaton has done over the period of time, most of the people see him only as The Batman. If there has to be a film showing an old Bruce Wayne sitting in his cave and guiding someone in the Batman suit then it has to be the actor who played Bruce decades ago as it will instantly make the audience connect with the Batman persona and timeline.
In the recent spectacular hit, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Keaton convincingly played the lead villain and it was a much applauded performance which makes it clear that he is very much into the comic film world. Since he has already played the younger Bruce Wayne, he would find it creatively challenging to play an older version of the same character. In the show he is shown as an angry, irritable, hurt and lonely guy who is trying to distance himself from the Batman persona and folk-lore. In the show Batman was shown aging, losing his might and was even shown once as nearly having a heart attack in the middle of an action packed rescue which forced him to aim a gun at the bad guy only to save his own life. He still remains the rich guy, but, physically weather beaten and lonely with only a dog to give him company. Then he is compelled to once again meddle with the world due to a grumpy sort of mentorship and kinship with a teenager whose father had been murdered. Such a role with intense emotions and struggles is the kind of a challenge that would bring the best out of Keaton.
Not only that, we would love to see Keaton play this role for one more reason. Initially when was chosen to play Batman in the 1989 movie, everyone laughed and found it absurd. They used to ridicule the fact that a comedian was going to play a role as intense as Batman? Some of them even riled it saying it would turn out to be another Adam West show. However, Keaton made them eat their words with the near perfect portrayal of a stylish and confident Bruce Wayne who got cranky when pushed to a corner. Keaton showed that he was an apt leading actor material, who despite suffering setbacks in the 2000s made a powerful come back riding on Birdman and Spotlight.
Therefore, instead of casting a random old movie actor to play this iconic character, the best would be to feature the same man who contributed in making Batman the phenomenon that he is. If nothing else, it would make the whole thing a lot more credible. Similar to how Conroy made the TV series look legit, Keaton would add credence to the film adaptation of the same.
While this is just a hypothetical casting, what do you have to say about it? Would you like to see Michael Keaton playing the old Bruce Wayne in an arm chair, wearing a sweater and moving around with the help of a cane?
