Michael Keaton’s had a nice little renaissance in recent years: Flashy roles in movies like Birdman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and The Founder, sure, but also just a sort of general embrace of people’s ongoing goodwill for him. (Remember that fun little bit he had in The Other Guys? Good times!) That rising tide apparently reached a new peak this week, when he gave a commencement address at his alma mater, Kent State, that ended with him reminding the assembled crowed that he was, indeed, Batman.
Keaton was receiving an honorary doctorate—in Not Taking Your Sunglasses Off While Giving A Fancy Speech, apparently—from the school, and gave a fond reminiscence about working hard during his time there. But he also fondly reminisced about the thing fans all want him to fondly reminisce about pretty much all the time, ending the speech with “two words”. Not “Mr. Mom,” “Dream Team,” or “Multiplicity: Underrated!” as some of his fans might have hoped, but the classic ones from his famous superhero outings: “I’m Batman.”
And the crowd, having been fed its much-demanded bat-candy, went wild.