The Flash features an aged Batman that has retired from his crime fighting days. Now, the director of the movie gave us an explanation for why he did that.
Andy Muschietti, the director of The Flash, reveals the dark secret that lead Michael Keaton's Batman to retire from crime fighting all together.
The Flash has been a huge flop at the box office, performing even worse than the widely panned CGI disaster that was Green Lantern. One cool thing, the movie got going for it was the return of Michael Keaton as Batman.
Keaton might not have been the most praised version of The Dark Knight, but it sure brought back some good memories seeing this OG return to the character!
Michael Keaton's Batman Retired Because He Became The Very Thing He Swore To Destroy
The way The Flash introduces an older, retired and grizzled Batman was pretty interesting. Especially considering how Michael Keaton's original portrayal of The World's Greatest Detective, was incredibly smooth and almost joyful.
This drastic change has a very good reason, though, as in a behind the scenes video, Andy Muschietti delves into his vision for the character's backstory in the movie.
My idea was, he did something that goes against his code. He killed a criminal in front of his child – not knowingly, but he still did it. Which is an exact mirroring situation of what happened to him when his parents were killed in front of him [next to] Monarch Theater, and that created the monster that Batman is.
This “event” turned Bruce into the tragic figure we can see in the movie, as someone who "hasn’t been able to forgive himself" which is why he decided to retire.