Before James Gunn Took Over, Ben Affleck’s Batman Movie Was Going to Cover 80 Years of Unexplored Dark Knight Lore That Never Made it to Screens
DC Studios’ future is looking pretty bright with James Gunn and Peter Safran at the helm, and they have already chalked out a brand new movie slate for introducing the new Batman. The duo also confirmed that it will be a new actor donning the cape, meaning that Ben Affleck will definitely be retiring from the role. In 2016, Ben Affleck became Batman for a live-action movie, in the first of what would become multiple appearances as the Dark Knight.
Ben Affleck’s Scrapped Batman Movie Would’ve Told a Story 80 Years in the Making
Ben Affleck had some big plans for the villain in his scrapped Batman movie. But the new DC Studios bosses, James Gunn and Peter Safran have already confirmed that a new actor will be introduced as Batman. In a new interview with Inverse, DC alumni Jay Oliva revealed that Affleck’s The Batman would have built upon 80 years of Batman stories. Affleck’s most recent and final appearance as Batman was actually in The Flash movie. Oliva tells Inverse, “I can’t really say too much other than it was fucking awesome,” further adding, “It was the best. It was amazing.”
James Gunn wants Ben Affleck to be directed in a DC film.
He continued,
“I’ve worked on a lot of Batman things and what was really cool about it was, it was tying together a lot of really cool Batman storylines that had never been really explored. Ben’s story was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics but was building off of storylines in the Batman mythos over the last 80 years and approaching it from a new kind of perspective.”
Though Ben Affleck had to step away from the film due to personal reasons, some people are reflecting on what could have been if the actor had indeed directed and starred in The Batman.
How Many Ben Affleck Batman Movies Are There?
Ben Affleck took up the cape and cowl of Batman back in 2016, hitting the big screen as the Dark Knight for the first time. The first time Affleck appeared as Batman was in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He reprised the role again in a cameo for Suicide Squad. Ben Affleck was originally lined up to play the role of Batman for an ongoing series of movies, however, due to a difficult period in his life, collapsed marriage, and alcoholism relapse, he stepped down from the role.
Ben Affleck played the role of Batman in four movies: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Justice League, and The Flash. He also filmed some additional scenes for the extended cut of Justice League, aka Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Rumors suggested that Affleck would appear in a standalone Batman movie, perhaps called The Batman, but that did not happen, and his role eventually went to Robert Pattinson.
Source: Inverse
