If a live-action standalone Batman Beyond movie is made we fully expect it won’t be connected to anything prior, even if Michael Keaton comes back as an elderly, retired Bruce Wayne.
But that doesn’t mean fans, especially those with a talent for the visual arts, can’t use their imaginations and draw from the wealth of continuity that came before.
One artist in the UK has done just that and chose Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy as the timeline his reimagining of Batman Beyond would follow.
Thomas du Crest posted a series of images to his Instagram channeling the look and tone of Nolan’s Gotham City and his version of the Batcave.
Du Crest also drew eye-popping, detailed renderings of Batman’s tech in the Nolan vein: such as the future’s flying Batmobile and the wingsuit worn by Terry McGinnis.
Except in Du Crest’s concept art, the suit is worn by Joseph Gordon-Levitt; hinting the identity of this new Batman is not high-schooler McGinnis but instead Gotham Police Officer John “Robin” Blake. He was bequeathed the Cave and everything in it at the end of The Dark Knight Rises.
Here is what Levitt might look like in armor that is a cross between McGinnis’ suit and the gear worn by Christian Bale:
The next two images depict Levitt in full gear standing next to the Batmobile – which has a lot in common with the one from Batman Beyond and the modified Batplane/Batwing in DKR, dubbed simply the Bat by Lucius Fox. They stand atop the platform and under the light fixture in the Cave in front of the waterfall.
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Du Crest made two more images of the same shot from another angle. A wider view shows someone standing in the foreground observing both Batman and the vehicle. It’s probably old Bruce Wayne but could even be Alfred.
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The rest of the stills are of Levitt’s Blake going airborne and flying through the clouds in “Wingsuit mode.”
A Batman Beyond feature, even animated, is not set in stone but Warner Bros. is believed to be giving it some thought as one of the standalone spinoffs they do as a result of Joker’s surprise success.
Other ideas include the rumored adaptations of Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, and Penguin.
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What do you think of the concept art? Does it make you want a Batman Beyond movie all the more? Leave a comment.