The Flash (2022)

[Gotham Knight]

Is that official? Cause that looks....not good.

Looks like it. A better quality one

I really like the individual images, but I think the way they've been presented in this flat collage seems half hazard and lazy.

[Gotham Knight]

A full and clean version of the leaked Fandom video package is online. It featured this concept art.





It does seem to confirm the final confrontation.

[The Joker]

Courtesy of Flash Film News.

[thecolorsblend]

Is there a reason we haven't gotten a yellow utility belt in a while?

I love the yellow oval and I'm happy that it's back. But that belt, I just don't get it.

[The Dark Knight]

It's been that way in live action since Forever. I get the feeling the yellow belt garnered a reputation akin to Superman's red briefs as being out of place. In this instance for someone operating in the shadows. I personally would have liked to have seen the original belt again, but alas, it is what it is. I think the suit still looks pretty good though, and more or less how I imagined it to be. Similar to Burton's designs, but different enough to sell more toys.

I really like the individual images, but I think the way they've been presented in this flat collage seems half hazard and lazy.

Apparently the individual images are official, but the collage itself is not.

[Silver Nemesis]

Is that official? Cause that looks....not good.

Looks like it. A better quality one

Reminds me of his Batman Returns fighting stance.

Courtesy of Flash Film News.

I'm more or less happy with the new suit. (MINOR SPOILER) Reports indicate that Keaton is digitally de-aged for most of The Flash so that he'll look like he did in his forties. Had Keaton continued to play the role back in the nineties he would have been 43 when he shot Batman III and 45 when he filmed Batman IV (assuming it was rushed out for 1997 like Batman & Robin was). As others have already observed, this new costume incorporates design elements from the Schumacher and Batman Begins batsuits. It looks like something Keaton could conceivably have worn in Batman III or IV back in the mid-to-late nineties.

However, there are three aspects of the suit about which I'm lukewarm.

Firstly, the open area of the mask surrounding his lower face looks smaller than on his earlier costumes. West, Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney and Pattinson all had larger gaps around their lowers faces, which accentuated the width of their jaw lines. Bale and Affleck had smaller gaps, which didn't look as good IMO. The smaller gaps give Batman's face a more tapered anime look. I've always thought the larger gaps surrounding the lower face looked better. Compare the shape of the jaw gap in the following two pictures to see what I'm talking about.

Now there might be a practical reason for this. Perhaps the smaller gap makes it easier for him to turn his head and eliminates the need to glue the mask to his face. Or perhaps it makes it easier to conceal the bone structure of the stunt doubles during the action scenes. The gaps surrounding the lower face were also smaller on the Sonar and Arctic suits than the regular costumes in the Schumacher films.

Maybe it's an optical effect intended to make his neck look more muscular. If so, it certainly worked in the Schumacher movies. Even Clooney, who was a pretty skinny guy, looked bulked up in the Arctic suit. I always liked the overall shape of those costumes and was hoping they'd fashion something similar for Keaton's return.

Which brings me to my second concern.

The shoulders and chest look narrow. The Sonar and Arctic batsuits had massive pectoral and deltoid muscles that made Kilmer and Clooney look almost as big as the Arkham Batman. The shoulders and chest on this new batsuit look smaller. Keaton's always had an ectomorphic body shape, with low fat, a long neck and narrow shoulders. He's got a slim figure that's roughly stick-shaped.

With the Batman films, the costume department tailored his clothes to have broader shoulders that gave his body shape a more imposing and muscular appearance.

In real life Keaton stood around 5'9, weighed about 160lbs and had some basic white-belt-level kickboxing skills. But in universe? I like to think his Bruce stood around 5'11 barefoot and 6'0 in the costume (which would gel with Knox's description of "a six-foot bat in Gotham City"), weighed around 190lbs, was a master of Ninjutsu and was proficient in a dozen other fighting styles. That's how I'm hoping they'll present him in the new movie.

But the new costume, at least in some of these pics, makes him look smaller than he appeared in the earlier films. The suit's probably more accurately tailored to his physique and reflects his real body shape better than the old costumes did. But I don't think the overall shape looks as good, even if it is truer to the actor's underlying figure.

It could just be the way he's standing in some of these pictures. It might look more imposing in the finished film. It's common practice with modern superhero films to digitally enhance the actors' physiques and costumes in postproduction, so the new batsuit might still look amazing in the finished film. We'll see. But for now, compare the widths of the shoulders and chests in the following two images.

My third qualm concerns the colour of the belt. I'm glad they kept the yellow oval on the chest emblem, but it would have been nice if they'd kept the yellow belt too. Just for the sake of consistency with the earlier batsuits and to preserve that Bronze Age look. But I'm ok with the black belt. I can live with it, and I don't think it looks bad or anything. I can believe Burton might have gone for a black belt like this in his third movie.

But all in all, I do like the new costume. I think my issues concerning the size of the gap around the mouth and overall body shape will be settled once we see how it looks in the finished film. The shape looks better in this picture Keaton himself posted.

And the gap in the mask surrounding his lower face looks fine in this image from Batgirl.

I wish the studio would release an official photograph that presents the suit in a positive light, like they did for Affleck and Pattinson. I don't know why they're holding back on this. We've now seen literally dozens of images of the costume, ranging from low-quality leaked promo art to photos of stunt doubles captured on location. None of those images are particularly clear or flattering. We all know what the suit looks like, so why not just release an official picture to help build hype?

My own interest in the movie is gradually reigniting. The delay combined with all the Ezra stuff last year killed my excitement, but it's starting to build again now. I know some fans are calling this Batman III. I'm calling it Batman V. In light of how poor the Batman '89 comic was, I'm happy to go on considering the Schumacher films part of the canon. That would make this the closest thing we'll get to Batman Unchained, the fifth Burton/Schumacher film that redeems the series. It's the first time we've seen the Burton/Schumacher Batman in live action in over a quarter of a century! That still blows my mind.

I know the movie can't possibly live up to our expectations, and there's a good chance it'll be bad, but nevertheless I'm going to make the most of it and enjoy the ride while it lasts. The fact there's no guaranteed spinoff or sequel, just like in the old days, actually enhances my excitement. If it's a one and done, then so be it.

[thecolorsblend]

I know the movie can't possibly live up to our expectations, and there's a good chance it'll be bad, but nevertheless I'm going to make the most of it and enjoy the ride while it lasts. The fact there's no guaranteed spinoff or sequel, just like in the old days, actually enhances my excitement. If it's a one and done, then so be it.

The ray of sunshine that I see is that the Angel Of Death Zaslav has been pretty ruthless about cancelling various projects no matter how much money has been spent on them.

The fact that The Flash has survived (against some pretty overwhelming odds) and that the studio seems to have genuine affection for the movie even tho it's now officially a creative dead end hopefully means it truly is a quality product.

So, I think those who are looking for reasons to become excited about the movie again have good reason for their anticipation.

After news broke that Kilmer was replacing Keaton back in 1994, I truly thought we'd never see Keaton play the part ever again. And yet, here we are.

[DocLathropBrown]

I'm more or less happy with the new suit. (MINOR SPOILER) Reports indicate that Keaton is digitally de-aged for most of The Flash so that he'll look like he did in his forties. Had Keaton continued to play the role back in the nineties he would have been 43 when he shot Batman III and 45 when he filmed Batman IV (assuming it was rushed out for 1997 like Batman & Robin was). As others have already observed, this new costume incorporates design elements from the Schumacher and Batman Begins batsuits. It looks like something Keaton could conceivably have worn in Batman III or IV back in the mid-to-late nineties.

However, there are three aspects of the suit about which I'm lukewarm.

Firstly, the open area of the mask surrounding his lower face looks smaller than on his earlier costumes. West, Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney and Pattinson all had larger gaps around their lowers faces, which accentuated the width of their jaw lines. Bale and Affleck had smaller gaps, which didn't look as good IMO. The smaller gaps give Batman's face a more tapered anime look. I've always thought the larger gaps surrounding the lower face looked better. Compare the shape of the jaw gap in the following two pictures to see what I'm talking about.

Now there might be a practical reason for this. Perhaps the smaller gap makes it easier for him to turn his head and eliminates the need to glue the mask to his face. Or perhaps it makes it easier to conceal the bone structure of the stunt doubles during the action scenes. The gaps surrounding the lower face were also smaller on the Sonar and Arctic suits than the regular costumes in the Schumacher films.

Maybe it's an optical effect intended to make his neck look more muscular. If so, it certainly worked in the Schumacher movies. Even Clooney, who was a pretty skinny guy, looked bulked up in the Arctic suit. I always liked the overall shape of those costumes and was hoping they'd fashion something similar for Keaton's return.

Which brings me to my second concern.

The shoulders and chest look narrow. The Sonar and Arctic batsuits had massive pectoral and deltoid muscles that made Kilmer and Clooney look almost as big as the Arkham Batman. The shoulders and chest on this new batsuit look smaller. Keaton's always had an ectomorphic body shape, with low fat, a long neck and narrow shoulders. He's got a slim figure that's roughly stick-shaped.

With the Batman films, the costume department tailored his clothes to have broader shoulders that gave his body shape a more imposing and muscular appearance.

In real life Keaton stood around 5'9, weighed about 160lbs and had some basic white-belt-level kickboxing skills. But in universe? I like to think his Bruce stood around 5'11 barefoot and 6'0 in the costume (which would gel with Knox's description of "a six-foot bat in Gotham City"), weighed around 190lbs, was a master of Ninjutsu and was proficient in a dozen other fighting styles. That's how I'm hoping they'll present him in the new movie.

But the new costume, at least in some of these pics, makes him look smaller than he appeared in the earlier films. The suit's probably more accurately tailored to his physique and reflects his real body shape better than the old costumes did. But I don't think the overall shape looks as good, even if it is truer to the actor's underlying figure.

It could just be the way he's standing in some of these pictures. It might look more imposing in the finished film. It's common practice with modern superhero films to digitally enhance the actors' physiques and costumes in postproduction, so the new batsuit might still look amazing in the finished film. We'll see. But for now, compare the widths of the shoulders and chests in the following two images.

My third qualm concerns the colour of the belt. I'm glad they kept the yellow oval on the chest emblem, but it would have been nice if they'd kept the yellow belt too. Just for the sake of consistency with the earlier batsuits and to preserve that Bronze Age look. But I'm ok with the black belt. I can live with it, and I don't think it looks bad or anything. I can believe Burton might have gone for a black belt like this in his third movie.

But all in all, I do like the new costume. I think my issues concerning the size of the gap around the mouth and overall body shape will be settled once we see how it looks in the finished film. The shape looks better in this picture Keaton himself posted.

And the gap in the mask surrounding his lower face looks fine in this image from Batgirl.

I wish the studio would release an official photograph that presents the suit in a positive light, like they did for Affleck and Pattinson. I don't know why they're holding back on this. We've now seen literally dozens of images of the costume, ranging from low-quality leaked promo art to photos of stunt doubles captured on location. None of those images are particularly clear or flattering. We all know what the suit looks like, so why not just release an official picture to help build hype?

My own interest in the movie is gradually reigniting. The delay combined with all the Ezra stuff last year killed my excitement, but it's starting to build again now. I know some fans are calling this Batman III. I'm calling it Batman V. In light of how poor the Batman '89 comic was, I'm happy to go on considering the Schumacher films part of the canon. That would make this the closest thing we'll get to Batman Unchained, the fifth Burton/Schumacher film that redeems the series. It's the first time we've seen the Burton/Schumacher Batman in live action in over a quarter of a century! That still blows my mind.

I know the movie can't possibly live up to our expectations, and there's a good chance it'll be bad, but nevertheless I'm going to make the most of it and enjoy the ride while it lasts. The fact there's no guaranteed spinoff or sequel, just like in the old days, actually enhances my excitement. If it's a one and done, then so be it.

Agreed on almost all counts. Keats' new costume is... not good. I mean, I could accept the overall design, as inelegant as it is, but the mouth opening in the cowl is hideous and really does him a disservice. I'm hoping that clear look at him in the suit is from a costume test and the final design has a more open jawline.

Personally, I don't care for Batman designs that look armored (except some special third act suits like the Sonar), with Returns' being the sole exception because of how minimalist it is, but the new suit uses the BR suit as a design base and proceeds to overdesign on top of it. Disappointing.

Regarding your spoiler: I'm a spoiler hound and I've not heard anything about him being de-aged for his time in the movie. This is, according even to the recent leaked video, a retired Batman. It's set in the modern day, not the 1990s, and Keaton appears at the end of the movie in a new universe when Barry returns and he's old there.

As for the DCEU being rebooted... to be honest, while there's not much evidence to deny it, there isn't enough evidence that we're getting a ground-up reboot. We know Superman is getting a new start, but everyone online has just run with that as proof (and seemingly everyone just wants a reboot anyway, so they're happy to read that intention into the Superman news). As of yet, knowing that the ending of The Flash has, so far, not been changed... we're looking at a fresh start wherever it's needed, but not across the board. It'll be an empty enough slate, given the ending, that they can make the changes they want to. Similar to the ending of every one of DC's various Crisis events. I just can't see them doing a full relaunch right after a movie like Flash that sets up an opportunity to make changes to what people widely dislike (Cavill, Affleck) and throw the popular (Shazam, WW and Aquaman) out with the bath water. Gunn also said of his role as head of the studio that he plans to "keep what works and fix what doesn't."

So, fingers crossed, this won't be the last we see of Keats in the cape and cowl... but at the same time, I shant hold my breath.

[Silver Nemesis]

Regarding your spoiler: I'm a spoiler hound and I've not heard anything about him being de-aged for his time in the movie. This is, according even to the recent leaked video, a retired Batman. It's set in the modern day, not the 1990s, and Keaton appears at the end of the movie in a new universe when Barry returns and he's old there.

You're correct. I've heard conflicting reports on this, and I was recollecting an older one when I wrote that last post. But I've just checked the most recent leaks and they say he appears old. This more mature version of Bat-Keaton is partly based on the Thomas Wayne Flashpoint version, who was also in his senior years. So given the source material, it makes sense for him to be his real age.

[Gotham Knight]

Didn't see this around so :