Zack Snyder's Batman Just Turned Up In The Most Unexpected Place

As a pop culture icon, you can never be sure where Batman is going to turn up. Sure, he spends most of his time defending Gotham City from various terrorists and psychopaths, but his adventures have also taken him to the far reaches of outer space, to prehistoric caveman times, and everywhere (and every-when) in between over the course of his long crimefighting career. But it's less expected to see the very distinctively armored Zack Snyder version of Batman, who appeared in films like "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Justice League" before Ben Affleck decided to step away from the character, in any other context except a Zack Snyder movie. And other than a brief cameo in "Suicide Squad," there's been no reason to ever expect to see him elsewhere.

But, as you can see in the headline, a version of the Caped Crusader who looks an awful lot like the version we saw in Snyder's version of the DC Universe has indeed turned up in maybe one of the last places anyone would have thought to look for him.

We already knew that "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" (which is now available to stream on Disney+) would be awash in pop culture references and cameos, similar to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," a clear touchstone for the more recent film. But fans were probably not expecting to see Batman himself — much less such a close copy of the version we saw in the Snyderverse — make such a prominent appearance in the movie.

But appear he does, in the form of a character in a movie-within-the-movie: "Batman vs. E.T." It's a parody of the kind of wild crossovers that are becoming more and more commonplace in today's popular culture, something that "Chip 'n Dale" is interested in gently satirizing.

Over on Twitter, fans seem enthusiastic about the gag. "'Batman vs E.T.' Ok, I want this movie. Now!" wrote one user. Another user named @ExoticTlaloc wrote, "[H]ow much do I have to pay Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg to make 'Batman vs E.T.' real." 

Now, we all have learned what the denizens of the Gotham City underworld have already known for decades: you never know when or where Batman is going to turn up.