George Clooney Pokes Fun At Returning As Batman After His Flash Cameo

Few movies from the DC stable had as much riding on them as "The Flash." Touted as the big reset that would pass the torch between the DCEU and the rebooted DCU, the time-hopping, dimension-jumping tentpole was filled with cameos, including one of the film's biggest surprises: George Clooney, who reprised his role as Batman for the first time in 25 years after the disastrous "Batman and Robin."

When The Hollywood Reporter asked if the cameo at the end of "The Flash" was a harbinger of things to come, however, Clooney seemed to doubt it. "Oh yeah. Somehow, there were not a lot of requests for me to reprise my role as Batman; I don't know why," he joked at the premiere of his latest film, "The Boys in the Boat."

In case Clooney's remarks weren't enough to throw cold water on the prospect of his return as the Dark Knight, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn confirmed through a tweet that Clooney would "absolutely not" be the new Batman going forward, despite appearing as seemingly the final variation of the character at the end of "The Flash."

Though many takes on The Caped Crusader, including Val Kilmer's and Adam West's, have been criticized by fans, few have garnered the kind of flack that George Clooney's Batman in "Batman and Robin" did. While this is more the film's fault than Clooney's, it hasn't stopped fans from making fun of the goofy, campy nature of the film.

In fact, "Batman and Robin" is regularly mentioned among the worst movies of all time and is responsible for killing the franchise so badly that the series needed to be rebooted entirely with Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" in 2005. While other iterations since, like the animated version of Batman in "The Killing Joke" and Ben Affleck's murderous Dark Knight in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" have also come under fire, no version of this key DC character is as widely despised as the one in the 1997 Joel Schumacher film.

Though Clooney's appearance punctuates the end of "The Flash" in a memorable way, especially for fans who saw "Batman and Robin" upon its initial release, it's likely safe to assume – as Clooney suggested — that this is the last time that we'll be seeing him as the character.