When Zack Snyder enlisted Jeffrey Dean Morgan for a cameo role as Thomas Wayne in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, who would’ve thought that he’d just stumbled backwards into casting the perfect Dark(er) Knight for any eventual Flashpoint movie? I mean, lots of fans wished for such a thing and the memes have long been out there, but that didn’t mean any of us were prepared for the Flash’s solo movie to be rebranded as such this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con.
Naturally, anyone remotely familiar with the source material has since taken to the internet, all simultaneously concluding that Morgan playing an alternate take on Batman could finally be a reality. If this were to pan out, it would be quite the milestone because no character other than Bruce Wayne himself has yet to take up the mantle on the silver screen, despite several others having done so in the comics.
Let’s bring you all up to speed though before going any further. In 2011, Geoff Johns penned a five-issue miniseries titled Flashpoint that saw the Scarlet Speedster go back in time to save his mother. In doing so, he royally screwed up the timeline, creating a world filled with darker heroes. Eventually, he (kind of) set things right, thereby allowing DC to do a linewide reboot in the form of the New 52.
In the time since, this arc has been quite faithfully adapted as an animated movie, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and served as loose inspiration for season 3 of The Flash TV series. But even with those existing, seeing it realized with a massive Hollywood budget is enough to make any one of us hyperventilate.
Giving fans a reason to smile, it didn’t take long for Morgan himself to fuel speculation (and/or possibly campaign for the role) by taking to social media. First, he Tweeted out this jest featuring The Walking Dead co-star Lauren Cohan, who also played opposite him in BvS as Martha Wayne.
Did you say…. #flashpoint @LaurenCohan pic.twitter.com/4HgrymqWtU
— Jeffrey Dean Morgan (@JDMorgan) July 22, 2017
If you’re wondering what makes that doubly interesting, it’s that, in the world of Flashpoint, only young Bruce was murdered in that infamous alley. Thus, Thomas went on to become Batman, but Martha went absolutely crazy, going on to become the Joker. Their complicated relationship/feud was further examined in detail in a spinoff book called Flashpoint: Batman – Knight of Vengeance. And while that wasn’t part of the mainline story’s narrative, a two-and-a-half hour movie would certainly afford enough breathing room to explore it.
If you’re wondering what this could possibly end up looking like if indeed the Flashpoint filmmakers decide to incorporate it, be sure to check out this awesome piece of fan art Morgan posted on his Instagram page below. If you were to ask us, he’s certainly game.
