Michael Keaton has said he left the Batman franchise after two films because he thought the script of the third film “sucked”.

The actor starred as the superhero in 1989′s Batman and 1992′s Batman Returns, which were both directed by Tim Burton and huge at the box office.

But he decided against donning the batsuit again in 1995′s Batman Forever, which was directed by Joel Schumacher.

Michael Keaton (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Michael Keaton (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Michael has now told The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast that the script for the film “never was good”.

“It sucked,” he said.

The star said he didn’t understand why filmmaker Joel “wanted to do what he wanted to do” with the film, which was lighter in tone than the first two movies.

Val Kilmer stepped in as the Caped Crusader in Batman Forever.