Batman Star Michael Keaton Says He 'Didn't Care' About Batgirl Movie Cancellation

Batman actor Michael Keaton has admitted he was not all that bothered about Warner Bros. deciding to scrap the release of Batgirl.

GQ asked Keaton in a recent interview whether he found the fate of Batgirl disappointing, considering he reprised his iconic Batman role opposite Leslie Grace's titular superhero. The short answer was "no." He was unfazed by the cancellation but did admit to feeling bad for the movie's directors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

"No, I didn't care one way or another. Big, fun, nice check," Keaton said while, according to the outlet, rubbing his fingers together in a money gesture resembling the act of clutching dollar bills.

"I like those boys. They're nice guys," he added about Batgirl's directing duo. "I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad. Me? I'm good."

Keaton, who many regard as the best live-action Batman, starred as the Dark Knight in Tim Burton's 1989 movie of the same name before returning for the 1992 sequel Batman Returns. He then dipped out of the franchise because Joel Schumacher had a new creative vision for the third film, leaving the role open for Val Kilmer.

However, Keaton didn't hang up the cape and cowl for good, as he returned to the role again in 2022's The Flash. Batgirl would have been next on the DCEU slate if Warner Bros. hadn't cancelled it, coming out ahead of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Joker: Folie à Deux on the studio's theatrical release calendar.

Batgirl starred Grace in the titular role and would have featured another turn from Keaton in the role of Batman. A set photo showed Grace and Keaton standing face-to-face in full costume in a scene that presumably played during the film's funeral screening, acting as a send-off for the movie before it got locked in the vault.

The next DC release is Joker: Folie à Deux, due out on October 4 as part of DC Elseworlds, existing outside James Gunn and Peter Safran's DCU.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.