"I can still wear my Batman suit" – Michael Keaton

The past and future Batman

The original cinematic Batman

People Magazine about the measurements of the bat-suit and Keaton still aligning.

CBB suggests: put Keaton in the suit and film Dark Knight Returns*. It'd be a good bookend to Batman '89 and all the other stuff in between. I suspect it is an impossibility for Warner/Discovery or whoever it is that's running the Batman IP these days to do this, but it is the most obvious project that they could do based upon "a proven property" instead of trying to reinvent the wheel again, and featuring the actor who turned Batman into a popular film star first (Batman 89's box office, adjusted for inflation and ticket pricing, probably puts it out in the $1.5 to $2 billion in gross, at the very least). Having Keaton again as the aged, getting near the end-of-the-line Batman, would be a story all in itself for celebrity media to obsess on and promote the film, and then Warner would just to not have to screw it up with "Hollywood improvements."

* A faithful rendition of Dark Knight Returns, not the usual 'throw out everything but a patina of similarity' to the original source. Hollywood artists like to make their mark on their projects and the fear is that would be done by changing (or twisting) the source material so that they could say something like "in my version, Batman wears a purple suit!**" If instead Hollywood went straight for a financial return and just played straight with Frank Miller's kooky back-to-his-roots Batman, it'd provide the bat-fan with the bat-elements that make the bat-fan exist in the first place, thus earning Warner the bat-dollars that they supposedly are in business for.

** Sometimes in the old comics the 4-color screens goofed a little and Bats turned out with a purple tint on his Batman suit instead of the dark blue substitute usually used for showing he's in a black outfit. The old gravure printing couldn't effectively produce black tinting and shades so we got the oddly friendlier (though perhaps colder) version of Bruce Wayne in a blue/black and grey suit instead of the black and grey used now on DC's nicer paper with digital inks.

Batman 1989

Bruce Timm on Michael Keaton in Batman Beyond - - in a way, he looks too good to be old man Bruce Wayne

He looks like he could kick most guys' asses.

June 23, 2021

And other remarks (mostly positive) at comicbook

Speculations on a Batman Beyond film with Michael Keaton

Story at Movieweb

Micheal Keaton interview, 1989

June 24, 2020: The young Keaton discusses getting pegged for the Batman role and the backlash that followed. Video at ET Online

Related: UK Guardian story on Keaton returning as Batman for the Flash movie

"I'm the best Batman" says Michael Keaton

October 2020: Story at MSN News - Also, Keaton may be Batman again for another film says ew.com

Michael Keaton could be playing Batman again

June 22, 2020: No, it's not a filming of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, which would make a perfect bookend to Keaton's performance from the 1989 Batman. Instead it is a Batman role related to The Flash movie in the works. Story at Hollywood Reporter

Michael Keaton's Batman turns thirty

June 26, 2019: Story at USA Today ranks the "Batmen" of cinema and TV, with Keaton coming out #1.