Aquaman 2's Biggest Missed Batman Opportunity Means We'll Never Get The Answer To One Annoying DCEU Question

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One annoying question remains unanswered in the DC Extended Universe thanks to the lack of an appearance by Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Aquaman’s final appearance also served as the finale to the DCEU itself, which has now been rebooted into the James Gunn and Peter Safran-led DC Universe franchise. The DCEU’s abrupt ending left many loose ends, unfortunately, and one of the biggest ones is the status of its version of Batman after the events of The Flash.
Barry Allen alters the timeline in The Flash, melding the original DCEU with the Burton Batman universe, replacing Ben Affleck’s iteration with Michael Keaton’s from 1989’s Batman and Batman Returns. While there were allegedly multiple versions of The Flash’s ending scene (with one seeing the repaired DCEU timeline retaining Keaton’s Batman), the final cut of the movie simply ends with a joke, having George Clooney – who played Batman in 1997’s Batman & Robin – appearing as Bruce Wayne. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was in a perfect position to clear up the DCEU’s Batman situation in the franchise’s final installment, however.
The Flash's Ending Causes More Timeline Problems For The DCEU Right Before Its Conclusion

While The Flash’s joke ending is superficially an entertaining idea, it makes an unnecessary mess of the DCEU timeline right before its reboot. Clooney’s Bruce Wayne is familiar with a Barry Allen, perhaps implying that his reality already has a version of The Flash and that the original DCEU timeline is missing its Barry Allen. It would make sense for Barry to either undo all of his timeline tampering after this or at least return to his original reality, but none of the following DCEU properties (Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom) explain what happens next.
Batman is mentioned in several post-The Flash DCEU properties but he never makes a direct appearance.
Batman Appearing In Aquaman 2 Would Have Tied Up A DCEU Loose End

According to The Hollywood Reporter, multiple sources indicated that Michael Keaton was going to appear in one scene in Lost Kingdom. This makes sense since the original plan for the DCEU was to have Michael Keaton replace Ben Affleck as the universe’s Batman after the events of The Flash. Keaton would have had a supporting role in the canceled Batgirl film as well. A social media post by Aquaman star Jason Momoa would confirm, however, that Ben Affleck filmed a scene as Batman in Lost Kingdom. Director James Wan confirmed this, though he also noted:

“All I"ll say is that those scenes were just to have something in the bank in case we needed to explain time continuity if we came out first.”

While no version of Batman appears in Lost Kingdom, a Batman cameo was absolutely necessary to clear things up in the DCEU’s final installment. Having something as simple as a brief appearance by Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne during Aquaman’s speech at the end of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom would have been a helpful way to indicate to viewers that the DCEU ended with its original timeline – and iteration of Batman – intact before the franchise concluded.
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