JUSTICE LEAGUE Star Ben Affleck Rules Out A Possible Return To The DCEU As Batman

Robert Pattinson may be The Batman's lead star, but could Ben Affleck reprise the role in the present day DCEU? Well, get those hopes of seeing him in Flashpoint out of you head based on these remarks...

By JoshWilding - Feb 29, 2020 12:02 PM EST

Filed Under: The Batman

Ben Affleck has walked away from The Batman and the the DC Extended Universe, but there are still a lot of fans out there who are hoping he could reprise the role of the Caped Crusader. That final appearance would potentially be used to write him out of this shared world, and Warner Bros.' planned Flashpoint movie has previously been rumoured to do just that.

Now, though, the actor has permanently closed the door on any future return as Batman.

As you can see in the video below, he reaffirms that his time as the iconic DC Comics superhero has reached its end, and while he appreciates the opportunity to have played Batman, he clearly has no interest in doing so again. That's evident from him saying that even though he "had an opportunity to write and direct and kind of star in a standalone Batman [film]," it was around that time he "kind of lost interest in those stories."

Affleck played the Dark Knight in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League, three critically panned films which clearly put a strain on him. Ultimately, it may have been reshoots for the latter which proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back, and so asking him to return to Flashpoint would be, well, ridiculous at this point.

Check out Affleck's comments below:

Hit the "Next" button to take a look at where things
went wrong for Ben Affleck's version of Batman!

Batfleck Backlash

On August 22nd, 2013, Ben Affleck was announced as the new Batman for what was then being billed as an untitled Man of Steel sequel. Despite his impressive turns in movies like The Town and Argo, there was an immediate backlash and fans really weren't on board with him playing the Caped Crusader.

Here on CBM, the article revealing the news received over 1500 comments with gems like, "[I'm] just really not a fan of this news... [I] feel like DC hates us," "Nothing about Affleck screams Bruce Wayne or Batman," and "NO. No way, this has got to be a joke surely? I mean, BEN AFFLECK? BEN AFFLECK!?!?!?!? No way. I refuse to believe it." And those are just the clean ones!

This wasn't a good start for Batfleck and the actor later talked about being told by Warner Bros. to not pay too much attention to what was being said online. Unfortunately, things would only get worse for him from there...

Batman v Superman Bombs

As time passed, the images and trailers made it clear that Affleck was a great choice to play the hero (visually, at least) and when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theaters, pretty much no one had anything bad to say about his version of the character.

Unfortunately, the movie took an absolute pounding and the actor became a meme thanks to an interview which saw him dubbed "Sad Affleck." He clearly wasn't happy with the way things were going, but remained attached to direct a Batman movie he'd been writing with comic book scribe Geoff Johns and was lined up to appear in Suicide Squad.

Still, he can't have been pleased about starring in a critical flop as it hurt his status as a director and was like Daredevil all over again.

A Pointless Suicide Squad Cameo

When set photos showed Batman chasing down The Joker and Harley Quinn, fans were extremely excited to see how that would play out in Suicide Squad. Unfortunately, his appearance there boiled down to an underwhelming car chase in which he never interacted with the Clown Prince of Crime and a far too brief battle with Deadshot which was a total disappointment.

On the plus side, we did get a pretty cool mid-credits scene featuring Bruce Wayne and Amanda Waller.

The main problem was that Suicide Squad was another critical flop for Warner Bros. and while Batman's role was brief, this was another bad superhero movie (according to the critics, at least) that Affleck's name was attached to. It was at this point that he clearly started to grow frustrated with the role.

Ben Affleck's Frustrations

"With Live by Night, it took me a year and a half to write and get ready, and I worked really hard and — it’s just, nobody gave a sh*t!," Affleck told Jimmy Kimmel when asked for an update on The Batman. "But with Batman, I keep on getting, ‘Where’s the f***ing Batman script?!’ I’m like, ‘Whoa — I’m working! Give me a second!'"

It seemed like the pressure was getting the best of him. Live by Night (which Affleck directed while shooting Batman v Superman and Justice League, thereby taking his attention away from that movie) was a critical disappointment and that really can't have helped.

It was around this time that rumours about him being done with Batman after Justice League started gaining traction and it seemed as if his days as the hero might be numbered. However, fans held out hope because The Batman was still in the works. Well, not for much longer, unfortunately!

The Batman Falls Apart

Affleck's version of The Batman would have pitted the Dark Knight against Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke and that was an idea fans could get on board with (especially with Johns contributing his comic book knowledge to the script).

On January 30th, 2017, the actor issued the following statement about no longer directing the movie:

"There are certain characters who hold a special place in the hearts of millions. Performing this role demands focus, passion and the very best performance I can give. It has become clear that I cannot do both jobs to the level they require. Together with the studio, I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film. I am still in this, and we are making it, but we are currently looking for a director. I remain extremely committed to this project, and look forward to bringing this to life for fans around the world."

That was it for his version of The Batman but things still looked good because at least Affleck was going to team up with a new director to bring the movie to life, while still playing the Caped Crusader. Hell, he even declared at Comic-Con that, "I am the luckiest guy in the world, Batman is the coolest f***ing part in any universe." Matt Reeves was hired but things didn't go as we thought.

Creative Differences?

Reeves quickly made it clear that he was not only making changes to Affleck and John's script; he was totally rewriting it from scratch. What was going to be an action movie along the lines of The Raid was to be transformed into a noir thriller and the director clearly had a different vision for how Batman's story should play out, hence why we started hearing rumblings about it being a prequel.

Whether or not Affleck's departure had something to do with creative differences behind the scenes is hard to say, but it really didn't feel like these two were ever on the same page and that when Warner Bros. hired Reeves, they knew he wanted to essentially reboot the character and take him down a more standalone path which isn't necessarily connected to the wider DC Extended Universe.

The Justice League Dilemma

We really don't need to recap what went wrong with Justice League again but the fact is, this was the third DC movie that Affleck starred in which was met with scathing reviews from critics.

He can't have been happy with that and the writing was on the wall at this point.

Sure, we were hearing stories that he might play Batman one final time in Flashpoint to bring a close to his time as the character while a younger actor would take over in The Batman, but once that fell apart and Warner Bros. decided to focus on standalone story, it was apparent that it was simply a matter of time before it was made official that he would no longer be playing Bruce Wayne.

A New Batman

It feels like we spent all of 2018 sifting through rumours about who could be the next Batman and names like Jack O'Connell, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Richard Armitage continued popping up online.

Nothing concrete was revealed, of course, and as far as we were concerned, Affleck was technically still attached to the role. His personal life was in disarray, though, as he re-entered rehab and clearly had more on his plate than playing a superhero again.

The trades and fansites weighed in but nothing was made official until earlier this week.

Batman, No More

This week, The Batman got a release date: June 25th, 2021. It won't star Ben Affleck, though, and a new actor is being sought after by Matt Reeves. The movie will reportedly be a noir-type detective story that finally sheds some light on why the Dark Knight has been described as the World's Greatest Detective.

We don't know if this will be a reboot, a prequel, or a standalone adventure unrelated to Justice League. However, after months of conflicting reports and rumours, we now know that Affleck is done as Batman and that's a shame because it's hard to escape the feeling that we missed something special here.

Had things played out differently, we could have very easily seen his Batman on screen for years to come but it wasn't meant to be.

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66 Comments

1 2

MyCoolYoung - 2/29/2020, 12:55 PM

I mean who could blame him?

Origame - 2/29/2020, 12:57 PM

Media: "so mr affleck. Do you think you'll play batman again?"

Affleck: "...have you not heard about the new batman movie?"

dracula - 2/29/2020, 1:19 PM

@Origame - When Matt Reeves is done, they should keep Patinson, get Affleck to direct and use his script

Origame - 2/29/2020, 1:24 PM

@dracula - well they're doing a trilogy with reeves.

dracula - 2/29/2020, 1:29 PM

@Origame - We can wait

LongMayHeReign - 2/29/2020, 2:01 PM

@dracula - So get a script that was written and tailored for a different kind of Batman at a different point in his life and jerry rig it to fit a completely different and younger version just because?

CapHindsight - 2/29/2020, 6:27 PM

@LongMayHeReign - https://media0.giphy.com/media/Az1CJ2MEjmsp2/giphy.webp?cid=790b7611cd56afecffac4e24238203672333f3b43b1f73bc&rid=giphy.webp

JonAwesome - 2/29/2020, 12:59 PM

I really liked him as Batman! I just wish he was in better Batman movies!

tripttwe - 2/29/2020, 1:01 PM

@JonAwesome - exactly. The "write" pen could have made this one of the best casting decisions ever. My two cents.

tmp3 - 2/29/2020, 12:59 PM

Slow news day

dracula - 2/29/2020, 1:19 PM

@tmp3 - Arent weekends always slow

TheRationalNerd - 2/29/2020, 1:04 PM

I'm glad he took multiple steps to get himself back on track. That's true heroism.

L0RDbuckethead - 2/29/2020, 1:04 PM

That's good because DC had ruled that out a long time ago...

MCUKnight11 - 2/29/2020, 1:05 PM

Shame. I would've liked to see his Batman movie with Deathstroke as the big bad.

dracula - 2/29/2020, 1:20 PM

@MCUKnight11 - When Reeves is done they should get Affleck to direct Pattinson with his Batman script

MUTO123 - 2/29/2020, 1:12 PM

.............................Who is the mother[frick]er dumb enough to ask a question like that?

OmegaDaGrodd - 2/29/2020, 1:33 PM

1 2

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JUSTICE LEAGUE Star Ben Affleck Rules Out A Possible Return To The DCEU As Batman

Robert Pattinson may be The Batman's lead star, but could Ben Affleck reprise the role in the present day DCEU? Well, get those hopes of seeing him in Flashpoint out of you head based on these remarks...

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