It appears that director Matt Reeves is indeed crafting ‘The Batman’ to exclude Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Reportedly, Reeves has turned in the first draft of the screenplay to his movie’s first act and it is said that it focuses on a younger Batman who is just starting out in his crime fighting career. That would mean that Affleck’s Dark Knight, who is believed to have been active for roughly ten years in ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ will not be utilized, unless the remainder of Reeves’ script features time jumps to the present of the DC Universe.
Affleck was originally tapped to star in ‘The Batman’, but to also write, direct and produce, but shortly into development, Affleck stepped down from writing and directing, which led to Reeves coming on board. Rumbling emerged that Affleck was no longer interested in helping craft Warner Brothers’ DC movies, after the very vocal, public outcry in response to his casting, then the miserable reception audiences had to ‘BvS’. He made a cameo in ‘Suicide Squad’ but his next starring role was in ‘Justice League’ which was also not well-received and had the weakest box office performance of any DCEU movie so far, including ‘Man of Steel’ which was retroactively chosen as the starting point, although it wasn’t touted as such when it was first released.
Rumors have fluctuated that Affleck either wants out of the DC Universe or that he wants to stay. The most recent buzz was that he was not going to be in ‘The Batman’, but he does have one more film in his contract. If he’s not in the solo movie, then he will most likely make one more appearance in a ‘Justice League’ sequel. Even though the film wasn’t a hit at the box office, it doesn’t seem thinkable that Warner Brothers won’t at least try again with an all-star mashup.
Of course, he may simply have a small role in, perhaps ‘Birds of Prey’ or another flick and call it a day. Er… night.
The one source of concern may be if Affleck doesn’t show up in ‘The Batman’ because it is a prequel, does that mean we’ll have to endure another appearance by the most over-used Batman film regular– Martha Wayne’s damn bouncing pearls? Please no.
Warner Brothers is a subsidiary of Time Warner. A judge just approved to allow Comcast to buy Time Warner. Even though the DC film brand has been in a bit of a spiral for some time now, with this merger, it seems that WB is really buckling down and restructuring. But at this point, it does appear that ‘The Batman’ is still in development and will most likely get made. After all, if there is one comic book star that is almost a sure bet, it’s the Dark Knight.
Are you interested in a young Batman movie? How do you feel about Affleck leaving Gotham City behind?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
