The Unexpected Problem Michael Keaton Had With The Flash Script

Michael Keaton could be considered the unofficial godfather of superhero movies. While there had been movies based on comic book characters in the past, 1989's "Batman" changed the game. Thanks to director auteur Tim Burton, these projects were seen as something that could have genuine artistic merit instead of just something to entertain children. Keaton's Bruce Wayne set the standard for every other actor who's come after him to put on the cowl, so it only seems fitting that all these decades later, he'll don the Bat-Suit once again for "The Flash."

By the sounds of all of the rumors and leaks we've gotten so far, the Scarlet Speedster, played by Ezra Miller, will do some tampering with the time stream and potentially the multiverse. It explains how both Keaton's and Ben Affleck's Batmen can appear in the same movie together. Of course, multiverse concepts are nothing new. Everything from "Rick and Morty" to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" has used such theories for dramatic purposes. One person who apparently had some difficulty wrapping their head around such scientific concepts was Michael Keaton himself.

Michael Keaton may have helped popularize the comic book movie to the culture at large, but that doesn't mean he's stayed up-to-date with every superhero development. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed how he had never seen a superhero movie all the way through since "Batman." It's kind of weird when you remember he was also in "Spider-Man: Homecoming," but it also makes it understandable how he wouldn't necessarily grasp all of the pseudo-science at play within these films, especially with something as complex-sounding as "The Flash." 

In the same interview, he said, "I had to read ['The Flash' script] more than three times to go, 'Wait, how does this work?' They had to explain that to me several times. By the way, I'm not being arrogant, I hope, about this. I don't say it like, 'I'm too groovy.' I'm stupid. There's a lot of things I don't know about. And so, I don't know, I just kind of figured it out, but this was different."

He goes on to talk about how many aspects of these interconnected cinematic universes work. After all, he'll reprise his role of Vulture in "Morbius," which is a Sony film that appears to also relate to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, owned by Disney. It's confusing, but you don't want to ask Keaton about the logistics. The actor recalled receiving an explanation for how the MCU and Sony universes work, and he stated, "I'm nodding like I know what the f*** they're talking about. I go, 'Uh-huh.' And I'm thinking, 'You may as well be explaining quantum physics right now to me. All I know is I just know my guy. And I know the basics.'" With so many superhero projects coming down the pipeline for Keaton, he might just become a comic book aficionado in no time.