Long before Ben Affleck hung up the cape and cowl, The Batman was reportedly being angled as a standalone epic involving a Wonder Woman-esque framing device and a crossover with Birds of Prey, the female-fronted spinoff in development from Cathy Yan.
Or so says the industry sleuths at Revenge of the Fans. Soon after news broke that Matt Reeves was assuming full control of The Batman, it emerged that Affleck had envisioned his DC character piece as a multi-faceted adventure, one which would’ve allowed Bats to factor into both Birds of Prey and the Chris McKay-directed Nightwing movie that appears to have slipped off the Warner Bros. radar.
Doing so would’ve meant bookending the story a la Wonder Woman, with the core plot being situated in a Gotham City devoid of Bruce Wayne. That’s right, The Batman initially planned to take a leaf out of The Dark Knight Rises‘ book and label ‘Gotham’s favorite son’ as a missing person.
Here’s how that would’ve panned out:
So in essence, Batman would’ve had an arc that played out across Birds of Prey, The Batman, and Nightwing. Then, presumably, we’d get another solo Bat film that centered squarely on the present day Batman. However, whenever it was made abundantly clear that Affleck was no longer returning, they simplified the Batman angle in Birds of Prey and ditched their live-action Dick Grayson plans entirely (for now), which is why McKay’s Nightwing disappeared.
It’s nothing we haven’t heard before, of course, but it’s still interesting nonetheless, particularly now that we know Ben Affleck’s script has been tossed by the wayside for good. In its place is an original story from Matt Reeves, which seemingly involves a rogues gallery of villains and a greater emphasis on Bruce Wayne’s world-renown detective skills. Either way, color us very, very intrigued now that the movie is beginning to gain some serious momentum.
One thing’s for sure: The Batman plans to swoop into theaters on June 25th, 2021, by which point we’ll know the official title of Matt Reeves’ long-anticipated project.
