George Clooney quips about his 'one-time' Batman return in 'The Flash'

This summer, George Clooney surprised everyone in the DC Universe by making his 25-year comeback as Bruce Wayne in The Flash. He is now stating that this was a one-time retaliation.

Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, released in 1997, had Clooney as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and it is widely regarded as one of the worst superhero movies ever made.

The actor has repeatedly spoken out against the film, telling Howard Stern in 2020, “Akiva Goldsman — who’s won the Oscar for writing since then — he wrote the screenplay. And it’s a terrible screenplay, he’ll tell you. I’m terrible at it, I’ll tell you.”

However, Clooney unexpectedly returned to the part in June during The Flash's climactic scene, in which Ezra Miller's Barry Allen is speaking with Bruce Wayne over the phone after eventually making it back to his own Earth and timeline. 

When Wayne arrives at the courts in his automobile, it becomes clear that Clooney is portraying him—rather than Ben Affleck, whom Barry had anticipated playing Batman and who makes an appearance later in the movie.

At the Los Angeles premiere of his new film The Boys in the Boat on Monday, Clooney was asked by The Hollywood Reporter if his presence in the movie was a one-time occurrence or if it would lead to additional Batman roles. He laughed and replied “Oh yeah. Somehow there were not a lot of requests for me to reprise my role as Batman, I don’t know why.”

After playing the superhero, Clooney went into directing and directed The Boys in the Boat, a film that narrates the inspirational true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing squad that participated in the Berlin Summer Olympics and won a gold medal. Opening day for the movie is December 25.