Everyone knows the core premise of Batman. Bruce Wayne loses his parents to a mugger in an alleyway, and the experience turns him into a brooding hero with a hatred for guns as well as a refusal to take human life. However, in another world, Bruce's father was the survivor of that mugging, and his take on Batman has become iconic for its violence and brutality. Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently addressed the possibility of playing Thomas Wayne's Flashpoint Batman in the DCEU, and he said that it would be incredibly easy after taking on the role of Negan. He explained:
Is there another plan for that Thomas Wayne character? We'll see. I don't know. I would love to be the dark Batman. That's the darkest Batman there is. God knows I embrace the darkness. Flashpoint Batman would be like doing a comedy compared to being Negan.
According to a new report from Comicbook.com, Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently took the stage at Walker Stalker Con and spoke out about the possibility of playing Flashpoint Batman in the near future. While he would not confirm or deny any possible plans for the character within the DCEU, he spoke fondly about the opportunity, and he definitely seemed to be on board with the idea -- which isn't surprising, as he's expressed willingness to play the part in the past.
It's not hard to imagine that Thomas Wayne would be a cake walk for Jeffrey Dean Morgan when we consider his body of work. In fact, he noted that the act of playing Negan on AMC's The Walking Dead has pretty much inoculated him for any of the dark material that DC could throw at him. Even at Flashpoint's darkest, The Walking Dead will still go darker.
The possibility of Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing an alternate version of Batman has become one of the most popular fan theories surrounding the entire DCEU. Since the opening credits of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, it's felt like an easy storyline for the universe to tackle. Morgan has a history of darkly flamboyant characters like Flashpoint Batman, and his death scene in Dawn of Justice even showed him about to attack Joe Chill before the mugger fired the fatal shots. If Flashpoint ever occurs in the DCEU, don't be surprised if we see a new version of that scene in which Morgan becomes the new Batman, and Lauren Cohan becomes a female version of The Joker.
The prospect of a Thomas Wayne Batman in the DCEU could completely upend the concept of a silver screen Dark Knight. While Bruce Wayne is an expert martial artist who uses non-lethal tactics and an arsenal of fancy gadgets, Thomas Wayne's version of Batman is a brutal, lethal killer who has more in common with The Punisher than The Caped Crusader. As Barry Allen notes in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, if Bruce Wayne is the James Bond of superheroes, then Thomas Wayne is The Unabomber.
Only time will tell whether or not Jeffrey Dean Morgan will actually play Thomas Wayne Batman in the DCEU. There's ample fan enthusiasm for the Flashpoint storyline, so this could be exactly what the silver screen DC universe needs right now.
