The Flash has a nagging paradox at its core: Its characters harp on the need to let go of the past, but the film is firmly tethered to images and characters from decades ago. Chief among these is Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne, who appeared in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and its sequel Batman Returns (1992), and whose comeback ends up so lopsided that it fails to clear the low bar of mawkish sentimentality set by modern, multiverse-obsessed superhero films. The best that can be said for his appearance is that, since Keaton is still alive, it at least avoids the ghoulish depravity of reviving a dead actor for cheap nostalgia (which The Flash does numerous times).
