Stepping into the Batsuit for the first time in 30 years was “very emotional” for Michael Keaton, says The Flash director Andrés Muschietti.
So much so that Keaton asked Muschietti to take a picture of him in the suit so he could show his grandson the landmark moment.
Muschietti told IGN what it was like watching Keaton revisit the role of Bruce Wayne for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns.
Here’s How Michael Keaton Reacted to Wearing the Batsuit for the First Time in 30 Years
“When [Keaton] arrived to the set, the Batcave was already finished and it was lit and everything. He stayed like this [eyes wide] for a while. I didn’t want to interrupt him. I just wanted for him to take it in. Who knows what was going on there? But something was going on there,” Muschietti told IGN.
“It was funny because at one point during the scene where we shot him in the full suit, he was like, ‘Can you take a picture? It’s for my grandson.’ It was one of those moments where he really showed something was inside that was very emotional.”
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Keaton famously left the role of Batman after starring in Tim Burton’s 1989 film Batman and his 1992 film Batman Returns because he didn’t like the direction that new director Joel Schumacher was taking the third movie, Batman Forever. In that 1995 movie, Val Kilmer played Batman instead.
In The Flash, Ezra Miller stars as the title character — but Keaton makes an appearance for the first time in over 30 years as the Caped Crusader when Miller’s character accidentally changes the timeline and ends up in one corner of the multiverse where Keaton has been Batman the whole time instead of Ben Affleck, who also makes an appearance in The Flash.
The plot of The Flash follows Miller’s character as he uses his superpowers to go back in time and save his parents from dying. But, considering how finicky time travel is, The Flash accidentally gets stuck in the past when he changes the future by accident. His solution? Find Batman and enlist his help to fight the movie’s villain, General Zod, played by Michael Shannon in a Man of Steel role reprisal.
The Flash arrives in theaters on June 16.
Main Image: Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne in The Flash. Photo credit: DC / Warner Bros.