Batgirl director shares photo of what's probably, definitely Michael Keaton's planned Batman return

Batgirl co-director Adil El Arbi is sharing a peek at what seems like what could've been if his DC superhero movie hadn't been abruptly scrapped.

After starring in 1989's Batman and 1992's Batman Returns, Michael Keaton had again been cast as the Dark Knight in a new film featuring Leslie Grace as the titular heroine. Now, Arbi has revealed an image of what that meeting would have looked like on screen.

The photo showed up in Arbi's latest Instagram Story, and Grace also shared the image on her social media. The filmmaker is seen on set, flanked by Grace and what is very likely Keaton in full costume.

Keaton will now appear as Batman/Bruce Wayne in The Flash, which Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirmed Thursday is still happening and that the studio is "excited" about it — despite its lead Ezra Miller's multiple arrests and the recent allegations made against the actor.

Following the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery made the surprising decision to shut down Batgirl, even though it had invested a reported $90 million in the direct-to-HBO-Max movie and the film had already finished filming in April.

"The decision to not release Batgirl reflects our leadership's strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max," a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement at the time.

During a WBD investors' call on Thursday, Zaslav further explained, "We're not going to launch a movie until it's ready. We're not going to launch a movie to make a quarter, and we're not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it."

"We are saddened and shocked by the news," Arbi and his co-director Bilall Fallah said in a joint statement after word got out of Batgirl's cancellation. "We still can't believe it. As directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences, and while the film was far from finished, we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves. Maybe one day they will insha'Allah."

WBD now wants to find its own Kevin Feige, who spearheads the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Disney, to create a "10-year plan" for DC superhero movies. Warner Bros. has tried this before, but most of its previously announced projects never came to fruition until it started to focus more on standalone DC films.

Representatives for Arbi, Keaton, and Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to EW's requests for comment.

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