Michael Keaton’s Batman will return in The Flash, and his new wardrobe of Batsuits breaks a trend among live-action iterations of the Dark Knight. Originating in the reality known as Earth-89, Keaton’s Batman starred in two blockbuster films, Batman and Batman Returns, as well as having further adventures in DC Comics’ Batman ’89. With a storied history of fighting crime in his reality, Keaton’s Batman has accumulated more Batsuits than other versions of the Caped Crusader, demonstrating how the Earth-89 hero has upgraded his technology over time.
Keaton’s Batman already broke several major Batsuit trends back in 1989, using a different material and color scheme than what those familiar with the Batman comics were used to. Keaton’s suit eschewed the classic gray circus-inspired outfit with a blue cape and cowl in favor of an almost uniformly black outfit, with a yellow chest emblem and brass utility belt adding a small amount of brightness. The suit was also made of durable armor with more protection against ballistics than Kevlar, allowing Batman to quickly recover from gunshots at close range with little to no injury.
As shown in CinemaCon 2022’s footage of The Flash, Keaton’s Batman will have no less than seven Batsuits in storage which is far more than any other live-action Batman. Typically, a live-action iteration of Batman will retain a consistent standard suit which perhaps is upgraded between (or during) their movies along with a specialized suit for a particular mission. By having so many variants of the standard Batsuit, Keaton’s Batman has more in common with Iron Man from the comics and MCU than he does other versions of Batman.
In the Joel Schumacher Batman universe, a.k.a. Earth-97 (which branches off of Earth-89 after Batman Returns), Batman has two standard Batsuits, replacing the Batman Forever suit just as George Clooney replaced Val Kilmer in Batman & Robin, as well as two specialized outfits, with the Sonar Suit in Forever and the Ice Armor in Batman & Robin. Christian Bale only wore two suits in the Christopher Nolan trilogy, with his heavier suit from Batman Begins being replaced with the lighter and more mobile (yet more vulnerable) second-generation suit in The Dark Knight. Ben Affleck retains a single comic-accurate standard Batsuit in all of his appearances but creates an armored variation to fight Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a tactical variant for Steppenwolf’s forces in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Michael Keaton’s Batman has already shown a tendency to replace his standard outfit in his Earth-89 adventures. In addition to replacing the standard Batsuit in Batman Returns, he has a new outfit in Batman ’89, hinting that he’ll gradually accumulate more suits than even his Earth-97 counterpart. With seven Batsuits in The Flash, Keaton’s Batman will have the largest number of standard suits of all live-action Batman variants.
In the Marvel Comics universe and MCU, Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, has a plethora of standard suits of armor, as he’s constantly researching and upgrading his technology, often warranting a whole new suit to take advantage of his constant improvements. In the Iron Man films, Tony Stark’s home displays his standard suits, creating a timeline of his ever-improving technology, and this could be the case in The Flash as well, showing Keaton’s Batsuits from the Tim Burton films and Batman ’89 comics along with new ones. By breaking a live-action Batsuit trend in The Flash, Michael Keaton’s Batman will give viewers a visualization of his long history of crime-fighting and a different attitude towards upgrading his gear.
