THE FLASH Director Shot a Scene Explaining Why Bruce Wayne Stepped Away From Being Batman

DC’s The Flash is now in theaters, and some fans are loving it! The film is chock-full of surprises, twists, and turns, and some outstanding acting, action, and storytelling. One character in the film who garnered a lot of attention before the movie was made was Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne. Keaton’s Batman hadn’t appeared onscreen since his feature films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and fans were excited to see that the Bruce of those movies was the same character as we saw in those Tim Burton-directed movies. His life had changed over the decades since seeing him, but his character rang true.

The Flash director Andy Muschietti wasn’t able to dig into Keaton’s Batman’s past in the final cut of the film, but he says he did explore it a bit in a deleted scene that fans will be able to view in the special features once the movie is released on DVD and Blu-Ray. As he told IndieWire's Toolkit podcast (via /Film):

"The insertion of the [Michael Keaton Bruce Wayne] story set up some questions, which is part of a big question that you ask yourself when you're approaching a movie like this. But it was a fun process. How much of [Tim Burton's movies] do we abide by? How much of the aesthetics, how much of the tone? I was very attracted to the idea of finding Bruce Wayne 30 years later and seeing him and basically fantasizing about what his life would have been 30 years later. The idea of, also, the reason why he quit being Batman was very important to me. There's a deleted scene, and you will see in the extras of the digital version of the DVD where that scene is there. We took it out for pacing reasons, but for me, it's very revealing and very important."

Muschietti went on to talk about the evolution of Bruce Wayne, answering questions some viewers might have had about why Batman's technology seems to have improved between now and the last time we saw him:

"The idea of transformation was important to me. I didn't want to find Bruce Wayne in the same spot where we left him 30 years ago. I wanted to create a bit of backstory where he kept being Batman for a few more years, hence the new gadgets and the technology that we see. You see that everything looks like the designs of the Tim Burton movies, but a little altered. His suit is slightly different, the Batwing is different — it's a three-seater now, and he has that rotating technology that was included. I just had fun exploring it."

Watch The Flash in theaters now, and stay tuned for the release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray.