This movie has now been given an official title -- The Batman: Part II -- and is pencilled in for release sometime in 2025. It's also been designated as a "DC Elseworlds" movie, meaning that this version of Batman is no longer considered part of the true DC movie universe. (Basically, any movie or TV show that DC is still contractually obligated to, from before James Gunn took over, will now be considered an Elseworlds story.)

I'm so glad moviegoers finally get to experience what comics fans have enjoyed for years: DC pretending that every move it makes to mess up its continuity is somehow
*actually* making that continuity more streamlined.

The time is working out to where DC should have its cinematic universe honed to perfect just in time for superheroes to be back out of style.

It's so funny in retrospect. I read a bit about the inception of Crisis on Infinite Earths and how it was going to help make DC more popular by getting rid of those oh-so-confusing alternate realities.

And now in 2023, it feels like every superhero movie is leaning into the multiverse concept, especially Marvel (the company they were trying to emulate when they did Crisis), to the point where I imagine casual movie-goers think they got there first. First they got Thanos out there before Darkseid, then they got Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Mutliverse of Madness out there before Flashpoint -- sorry, I mean The Flash.

All that said, I think this "Elseworlds" thing is what DC should be doing -- individual superhero movies that aren't part of a greater shared universe. Right now, Marvel owns the whole "cinematic superhero universe" thing and I doubt there's an appetite to follow a second one among the general public. I feel DC needs something that differentiates them from Marvel and offers an alternative to people who like superheroes want to see a different approach or who don't want to have to follow a web of movies and shows to keep up with the over-arching MCU saga.

IMHO, they should be going to their Golden and Silver Age roots where it felt like each superhero exists in their own little universe except for the occasional crossover, which felt like a big event (outside of World's Finest, natch). And not only would it be an alternative, it would also help them move away from failures like the Snyderverse. Instead of rebooting an entire line of movies, they could just ignore the ones that didn't hit, like they did with Green Lantern and Superman Returns.

Then just pop them all into the occasional JLA movie, no need to do a long string of after-credits epilogues.

I think they should also take note that the one superhero movie of the last 2 years that has generated the most excitement and love from audiences is the one that's not part of any shared cinematic universe, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

But to Hanzo's point, the only DC movie of the last 4 years that's been an unabashed hit is last year's The Batman, which is not part of the cinematic universe. Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad both had their box office affected by the pandemic, but Birds of Prey from 2019 along with Black Adam last year and Shazam 2 this year all flopping and The Flash tracking towards a lot lower opening than initially predicted suggests Hanzo is right and DC shouldn't really be pushing the shared universe thing. Which sucks because I really am looking forward to Gunn's Superman as well as the Swamp Thing movie down the road.

And think about how it would be doing without the Michael Keaton nostalgia factor. Just about everyone I know who wants to see it doesn't really care about the Flash, they just want to see Keaton in the 1989 Batman armor.

Tell me you're getting old without telling me you're getting old. . . .

*raises hand*

(I actually do love the Flash but don't care for this version of him that much)

I don't give much of a crap about any DC character really, but the Keaton Batman was a real, seminal moment in the birth of the super-hero movie as a grown up genre, and I clearly remember what a huge deal it was at the time, to the zeitgeist and to me, personally, who was really excited to see a comic come to life in a big budget, non-camp manner. That's why I want to see this Flash movie, and would honestly prefer that the actual Flash stuff, with this clearly deranged lead actor, was not in it at all

I liked the Snyder DCU movies - there, I've said it. Theoretically, I should dislike them...but I don't. I also liked James Wan's Aquaman movie and I'm looking forward to the sequel. I've not seen the Wonder-Woman ones but I liked the Supes one and the Bats versus Supes one too. I liked the idea of Luthor as a (slightly more) evil version of Mark Zuckerberg. I also liked the second Suicide Squad one where they fought Starro.

I don't have much interest in this Flash one, but I would also watch it just to see Keaton as Batman again.

When you have 4 years or more between sequels, you lose your audience. Batman is for teens and up, so might be less affected, but family franchises will die on the vine in this ever increasingly more common long wait.

It's okay, Hollywood will attribute that to the audience being intolerant racist homophobic climate destroying idiots.

Oops, I forgot we're sexist as well.

Well, lingering effects of COVID disruptions followed by strikes have really put a lot of productions back. You're right, though, the long waits are not helping the franchises any.

I've seen hopes expressed elsewhere ("New York Times," to be specific) that the collapse of some long-running franchises might force Hollywood to do some innovating again.

The first Pattinson Batman movie came out in 2022, post-COVID. I'm sure the strike(s) impacted this, as they did everything else...but 4 years is too long. At that rate, a franchise like James Bond would get two, maximum 3 movies out of each new Bond. Unless you're George Lazenby, that sucks.

In their defense, the first one was not good so this franchise deserves to be smothered with a pillow.

I watched it a second time just recently, and I thought it was OK. I was able to watching it all the way through, and felt some of the scenes were interesting (with a subtext! ) Other than making it too dark to see things in some cases I thought it was good. Well, not "not good", anyway.