Michael Keaton Knew Batman Forever Would Suck

Michael Keaton had a moment with director Joel Schumacher that made him realize Batman Forever would be terrible, and he decided to pass on it

Tim Burton made the first blockbuster superhero film of the modern era with Batman. And Michael Keaton was a big reason for that success in the role of the Caped Crusader. Things didn’t go so well with the second film, Batman Returns, and Warner Bros. took out Tim Burton and replaced him with Joel Schumacher for the upcoming Batman Forever.

However at the time, Michael Keaton was still presumably on board for a third Batman film. Warner Bros. may not have wanted Tim Burton to continue for a third film, but there was little reason to get rid of the guy people already knew and liked as Batman. But as Keaton revealed to The Hollywood Reporter, there was a moment in meeting with Joel Schumacher where he realized the movie might not turn out too well:

"It sucked. I knew it was in trouble when he [Schumacher] said, ‘Why does everything have to be so dark?’"

Now, Batman Forever did go on to be a success, even with it’s lighter and campier tone from the first two films. But it did pave the way for not just the worst Batman movie ever, but one of the worst movies ever made, Batman and Robin. The film so bad superhero movies weren’t allowed to try being fun again until Iron Man came along over a decade later.

Next: Ben Affleck's Batman Movie To Shoot In Los Angeles?

Not really related, but Michael Keaton has jumped back into superhero movies by being the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Does that mean he’s pretty confident the movie doesn’t suck? Because I’d love for that to be the case and Keaton has been pretty smart with his film roles as of late…