Ever since The Batman was tentatively announced in the build-up to Justice League, it’s been difficult to keep track of Matt Reeves’ standalone DC project in the face of intense speculation and general Internet scuttlebutt.
But last week, /Film cut through the white noise to speak to Reeves himself, who turned in a timely status report about The Batman‘s script, when filming may commence, and the pic’s (loose) ties to the wider DC Extended Universe.
Going one step further, the writer-director admitted that he’s still discussing The Batman with Ben Affleck, whose involvement in the DCEU has been the subject of intense Internet debate, fuelled by unnamed sources and Affleck himself, who’s dropped hints about leaving Warner’s superhero franchise numerous times before, only to walk back said comments before things get out of hand.
But let’s suppose that Reeves uses The Batman as a means of easing Ben Affleck out of Gotham, what would that look like? There’s a good chance he’ll employ the Wonder Woman trick and use Affleck’s aging Caped Crusader to bookend his “noir-driven detective story.”
Or, on the other hand, he may call upon CGI to de-age Affleck, as seen in this test footage from Twitter user ‘Landon O’Leary’:
Goodnight everyone. Here's a side by side, forgot to add it in the last vid lol. pic.twitter.com/NQtG9zJFlf
— Landon O'Leary (@LandonOLeary) August 8, 2018
This idea poses another potentially troubling question: can we expect Warner Bros. to apply CGI on another hero’s face after dropping the ball on Justice League and, more specifically, Henry Cavill’s mustache? It’s unlikely.
Besides, this test footage, which is pulled from Bruce and Clark’s first meeting in Batman V Superman, is somewhat unconvincing. If Matt Reeves really plans to collaborate with Ben Affleck, then angling The Batman as a cross-generational epic reads as the more likely scenario over facial CGI.
