George Clooney is set to reprise his iconic role as Batman from 1997’s Batman & Robin in the CW’s upcoming crossover event “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” sources confirmed, along with a number of other notable guest stars.
“Crisis on Infinite Earths” will take place across the CW’s existing DC television shows: Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Black Lightning. While the shows have crossed over before and have already dealt extensively with alternate universes, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will include a number of guest stars and fan-favorite role reprisals from various DC adaptations of the past. Clooney’s return as Batman after over 20 years is the latest to be revealed of these highly anticipated appearances.
“Each year’s Arrowverse crossover has tried to rehash generic plot elements from the previous years, but this time we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with ideas,” commented Greg Berlanti, co-creator of the Arrowverse shows. “But there were a lot of long-forgotten elements of the Batman mythos that we thought we could incorporate because fans haven’t seen them in a while. Like all those hilarious puns, for one. And the bat-nipples, of course. Oh, and who could forget the credit card with ‘Batman’ as the official cardholder?”
Clooney will make his Arrowverse debut alongside Chris O’Donnell returning as Robin and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. Halle Berry is also expected to reprise her role as Catwoman from the critically acclaimed 2004 film of the same name in a 4-episode story arc focusing on her developing relationship with Clooney’s Batman.
At publishing time, Berlanti had also confirmed an appearance from Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex, as well as from Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern, reprising roles from DC movies in 2010 and 2011, respectively. “They’ve both done great as Marvel characters in the past couple of years,” said Berlanti, referring to Reynolds’ role as Deadpool and Brolin’s portrayals of both Thanos and Cable. “Isn’t it time we give ’em another chance within the world of DC?” Berlanti did not comment on the possibility that the crucial difference in quality may have been not the actors’ abilities but rather Marvel’s continued business strategy of making movies that don’t suck.
The “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event will air this fall on the CW.
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