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Matt Reeves Won't Confirm The Batman Actor; Ben Affleck Still 'Involved'
Ben Affleck is still in talks to play the title role in The Batman movie. Affleck first appeared as the Caped Crusader in Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 and then briefly reprised his role in David Ayer's Suicide Squad later that year, but it was in 2017's Justice League movie that he really came back. Unfortunately, it wasn't the story that was originally promised - to anyone - and so he's been on the verge of reportedly exiting the franchise altogether for over a year now.
What's interesting is that Affleck had signed on to write, direct, produce a solo Batman movie in addition to starring in it as the lead character. But tackling such an endeavor can be understandably tiresome, so he ultimately relegated himself to simply a starring role. Cloverfield and Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves later boarded the project as writer and director, and it had been reported ever since that he was developing an origin story, one that would recast Batman - but that doesn't appear to be the case, at least not in its entirety.
Matt Reeves gave a brief status update about The Batman while promoting his new show, The Passage, during the TCA's summer press tour. In addition to saying that he's almost done with the script and that it won't be based on Batman: Year One, he also revealed that Affleck is still "involved" with the movie (via Deadline). Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean Affleck will star in the movie; most importantly, it means that Affleck is still interested in the film and Reeves hasn't decided on a star yet.
Considering that there have been rumors of WB and Reeves meeting with different young actors for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the movie, hearing directly from the man himself that he's still speaking with Affleck is great news for Affleck fans and fans of his version of Batman. Still, Reeves didn't rule out recasting the role either. Interestingly, according to /Film, Reeves suggested that there is a way that Affleck could remain in the role while also giving the filmmaker the chance to work with a younger Batman in his movie (and possibly trilogy).
This suggestion is actually the perfect marriage of what everyone involved with the film could want. Affleck entered the DC movie universe as an established superhero with a 20-year crimefighting career on his resume. That gives the studio plenty of room to explore the character's history to further cement his story arc in Snyder's original films, particularly being so far gone that he's willing to kill Superman to protect the world. And by exploring those stories, DC could replicate what they did with Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman: begin and end the movie with Affleck and then play out the rest of the story as a flashback. Hopefully, it won't be long before fans get a better idea of what to expect from The Batman film.
Release Dates:
. Aquaman (2018) release date: Dec 21, 2018
. Shazam! (2019) release date: Apr 05, 2019
. Joker (2019) release date: Oct 04, 2019
. Wonder Woman 2 (2019) release date: Nov 01, 2019
