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The following contains spoilers for The Flash, in theaters now.
When The Flash announced Michael Keaton would return as Batman, many were intrigued. It did seem left-field at first that another Dark Knight would be included in the Multiversal fracture. Even more so when considering Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne was already there to explore the character beyond the Snyderverse. Still, Keaton's presence adds to the experience of alternate realities in the DCU.
It helps that fans already love Keaton's work, especially his two movies as Tim Burton's Caped Crusader: 1989's Batman and 1992's Batman Returns. In The Flash, Keaton does a commendable job getting "nuts" to help Ezra Miller's Barry Allen fix the fractured DCU timeline. However, Keaton's Batman is done a major disservice when it comes to the foundation for his own character arc.
Michael Keaton's Batman Is Unusually Reclusive in The Flash
The concept of a brooding Batman is, of course, nothing new. The idea has been turned into a popular meme with Ben Affleck's Dark Knight and even with Robert Pattinson's Caped Crusader. However, it shouldn't be trivialized considering Batman's character is built on grief and childhood trauma. These two things are what he uses as fuel in his ongoing war against crime. But when Barry meets Keaton's Batman, he's no longer crusading as Gotham's protector.
In The Flash, Keaton's Bruce Wayne is presented as unkempt, his mansion is in a state of disarray and is very much reclusive. While he's presented similarly to Christian Bale's Batman from The Dark Knight Rises, it's also worth noting the latter had a reason for being broken: he lost his childhood friend and love interest, Rachel Dawes, in a terribly cruel way to the Joker's schemes in The Dark Knight. But for Keaton's Batman, very little context is provided to inform why he cut himself off from society.
At best, Bruce explains to Barry that crime in Gotham has lessened to a point where Batman was no longer needed. There were also hints that Bruce was grieving the loss of Michael Gough's Alfred Pennyworth. But there's no other context beyond that to further explain his extreme change in lifestyle.
Michael Keaton's Batman Needed Emotional Context in The Flash
The reason more emotional context is needed to explain Bruce's behavior is the fact he decides to sit out the Kryptonian invasion of Earth. He sees Michael Shannon's General Zod on the news and all the alien warships, yet he doesn't bat an eye -- he just tells Barry to figure it out with Alt-Barry. This is unlike any Batman, who -- even at their lowest -- would try to save other innocents from dying. In fact, he knows he's the planet's only hope because there's no Justice League available to stop Zod.
While Batman being scared or selfish isn't a bad idea, his lack of motivation still needs to be better fleshed out. This way, there's more connection and empathy built with the viewers. It would even present Bruce as a flawed individual as opposed to being this seasoned veteran who's behaving in an uncharacteristically juvenile way. Considering the movie never confirms if this is still the Burton universe's Batman, this naturally leaves a lot of story left untold -- especially for explaining how Keaton's Batman behaves throughout the movie. At first, he decides he doesn't want to get involved in the General Zod conflict from Man of Steel, but then later changes his mind seemingly without much provocation.
When taken as a whole, The Flash's iteration of Michael Keaton's Batman is not a clearly defined character, especially with how differently he behaves from the version he plays in the Tim Burton movies. At best, Batman's motivations are all over the place, which makes it seem as though Keaton is just there for the nostalgia value, but isn't given a more meaningful character arc beyond that.
The Flash is now playing in theaters.