Thought one caped crusader was too much for Gotham’s criminal underworld? Wait till there are three! Michael Keaton, Robert Pattinson and Ben Affleck will all don the iconic cowl in separate projects in 2022, The New York Times reported in an interview with Walter Hamada, the president of DC Films. 

Multiverse may not be a new subject for comic book readers, but the DC Entertainment Universe (DCEU) will attempt it for the first time through a series of interconnected movies. 

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While this may have been hinted earlier, fans got excited after a NYT reporter confirmed the details about Keaton’s return after the Hamada interview. 

Pattinson will star in Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’, slated for release in 2022, which will feature the universe called ‘Earth 2’, where familiar roles will be portrayed by new actors. A different movie will show the events of ‘Earth 1’, where familiar actors, like Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, will reprise their roles. 

Meanwhile, Keaton and Affleck are slated play Batman in the 2022 film ‘The Flash’, which will connect those two universes. The movie will reportedly explore what happened to Keaton’s, who will reprise the role he played in 1989 and 1992, Batman since his last appearance. 

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‘The Flash’ will also be the final Batman appearance for Affleck, who played the role in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 2017’s Justice League, apart from a few cameo appearances, and said he was done with the character. 

Details about how the universes will be connected, or if the different ‘Batmen’ will meet at any point, haven’t been confirmed yet. 

“I don’t think anyone else has ever attempted (the multiverse concept on screen). But audiences are sophisticated enough to understand it. If we make good movies, they will go with it,” Hamada told NYT.