When Warner Bros. Discovery decided to pull the plug on Batgirl - despite the fact principal photography had ended - fans and filmmakers alike were left reeling. It was an unprecedented move and one which saw Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah's (Ms. Marvel) DC Comics adaptation deemed "unreleasable" in the press.
Considering the fact moviegoers had already suffered through the likes of Black Adam and The Flash, it was hard to believe a title made for Max could really be all that bad. Ultimately, it felt like David Zaslav simply wanted to save money by scrapping a movie which wouldn't recoup its costs from a streaming debut.
For what it's worth, DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran has said Batgirl "was not releasable" and praised "Zaslav and the team [for making a] very bold and courageous decision to cancel it because it would have hurt DC."
As the DCEU's new Caped Crusader following Ben Affleck's disappearance after The Flash, Michael Keaton was enlisted to return as Batman alongside Leslie Grace's Barbara Gordon. Talking to GQ about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the actor finally broke his silence on Batgirl being cancelled.
"No, I didn't care one way or another. Big, fun, nice check," Keaton said while "rubbing his fingers together in the universal gesture for 'moolah." He'd add, "I like [Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah]. They're nice guys."
"I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad. Me?" he added, shrugging. "I'm good."
While some might dismiss Keaton's take as callous (Batgirl looked set to serve as the big break for both Grace and Jacob Scipio), it comes across more like he's been in Hollywood long enough for a studio decision like this to not bother him.
Elsewhere in the interview, the actor praised Tim Burton for casting him as Bruce Wayne in 1989's Batman, a decision which, pre-internet, saw 50,000 comic book fans write to Warner Bros. to protest the decision.
"Tim deserves enormous credit. He changed everything," Keaton said. "I can't necessarily say this, but there's a strong possibility there is no Marvel Universe, there is no DC Universe, without Tim Burton. He was doubted and questioned."
"He hasn't gotten himself enough credit for going, 'Yeah—that guy,'" he continued. "And everybody went, 'Wait, Michael? You worked with him on Beetlejuice, right?' But I think what happened was Tim saw Clean and Sober. I get the credit. I don't know that he got enough credit for making that move. That was a bold move."
The plan had been for Batgirl to lead to this Dark Knight taking centre stage in a Batman Beyond project, likely meaning we could have looked forward to the Bat Family being part of the now-defunct DCEU. Instead, DC Studios is rebooting the franchise as the DCU, with a new Bruce Wayne set to take centre stage in The Brave and the Bold.