Last week, a listing of planned DC Comics movies that Warner Brothers supposedly had in the works was leaked.  Though the set wasn’t confirmed by Warner Brothers (DC’s parent company), director Kevin Smith (who has long had an inside track regarding the currently in-production ‘Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice’ which is expected to build upon last year’s ‘Man of Steel’ and set up the full DC cinematic universe) seemingly confirmed that he had also seen the same list and that it was official.  Among the movies on the slate were an official ‘Justice League’ movie, a ‘Wonder Woman’ solo movie, a ‘Green Lantern/The Flash’ team-up and finally a proper sequel to ‘Man of Steel’ in 2018.

Noticeably absent was a Batman movie, starring the highly publicized Ben Affleck.  This omission, to a lot of fans, gave credence to this list being fake.  Why would Warner Brothers move forward with more left-field choices like ‘Sandman’ and ‘Shazam’ instead of building on the heat of Affleck’s casting and his headlining role in ‘Batman V. Superman’?  Batman is the most proven of DC’s cinematic properties and arguably their most recognizable star.  In fact, wouldn’t it make sense to give him a new solo launch before ‘Justice League’ or even Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash?

Now sources are reporting that Affleck’s Dark Knight will in fact be getting a movie, just after all of these others.  These sources say to look out for a solo movie in 2019, currently working under the title ‘The Batman’.  (It worked well for ‘The Wolverine’.)

Though Affleck is best known as an actor, in recent years he has really distinguished himself as a director, with his movie ‘Argo’ winning the Best Picture Oscar.  Once he wraps ‘Batman V. Superman’ next year, he is writing, directing and starring in ‘Live By Night’ a period gangster drama with a 2016 release eyed.  Then he is donning the cowl once more for ‘Justice League’ with an expected 2017 release.  Latino Review points out that Affleck’s agent and attorney spent months hammering out his deal to play Batman and speculate that Affleck may actually direct ‘The Batman’ himself! This does makes sense as Affleck was said to have signed a contract with Warner Bros. locking him into playing the role in multiple films.

Affleck’s previous films have melded heavy drama and action, but he hasn’t tackled a tentpole blockbuster yet.  Is he up to the task?  Hopefully he wins over viewers with his take on Batman in ‘Dawn of Justice’.  That film’s performance could seriously impact whether or not these (rumored) plans come to fruition at all.

Source: Cinema Blend