If there are any people left on Earth who are not aware that The Flash will have two Batmans in it, and that one of them is played by Michael Keaton, Warner Bros. is hoping to mop them up with its latest trailer — the third this year for the DC movie.
We even get a glimpse of one Alfred: the Jeremy Irons one, who patches Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen through to Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne at an inopportune moment when he’s beset by screaming fans on the street.
There’ll be few surprises in this trailer if you’ve been following the marketing blitz for the film. (It’s probably felt more like the marketing blitz has been following you.) There are two Barrys, after The Flash goes back in time to try to save his parents, and the multiverse goes all screwy. (Sounds familiar.) There’s Sasha Calle as Supergirl, punching through a missile in one particularly cool shot. There’s the return of Michael Shannon as an even more evil version of his Zod from Man of Steel. And there’s lots of Michael Keaton, looking fantastic at 71 years young. You want to see the bit where he says “Let’s get nuts” again? Be our guest.
In all seriousness, it’s a fun trailer — funnier and lighter on its feet than its predecessors, and offering the clearest handle on the storyline yet. The movie seems to have some charm, and Keaton will always be cool. I’m not even mad about the use of Pink Floyd’s “Time” as a soundtrack. After a string of DC disasters like Black Adam and Shazam: Fury of the Gods, dare we hope this movie is actually… good? We’ll find out when it opens in theaters on June 16.