It’s been a wild couple of weeks for the DC Extended Universe, with all kinds of surprising announcements coming out of nowhere and being met with some pretty interesting reactions from fans. For instance, just last night we learned of a solo origin story film for the Clown Prince of Crime while earlier today, we received word that directors have been found for that Joker and Harley Quinn movie that was announced at Comic-Con last month. And then, of course, there’s been all the commotion over The Batman.
But first, let’s rewind. If you recall, in last night’s report about that Joker flick that’s coming from Martin Scorsese and Todd Phillips, it was revealed that it would be set in a separate DC universe, one not related to the DCEU. To cause even more confusion, we then heard that Matt Reeves’ Batman movie would also take place outside of the core franchise, which seemed like an odd decision and one that ruffled many fans the wrong way.
Now, we have confirmation of not only that, but also of what we’ve all suspected for months: Ben Affleck will not return to play the Caped Crusader in Reeves’ flick. Warner Bros. hasn’t made any sort of official announcement just yet, but in The Hollywood Reporter’s story about the Joker and Harley Quinn film, they dropped this little nugget of information:
“The new line, or possibly label, will allow for the making of movies that will stand apart and separate from those big-budget tentpoles. Matt Reeves’ The Batman, for example, is intended to not be connected to the Justice League universe but to be set in a different time period and star another actor.”
What’s interesting here is that the above paragraph has actually now been removed from the article and replaced with the following:
“An earlier version of this story stated that Matt Reeves’ The Batman was part of Warner Bros.’ new label and would star a new actor as Batman, but it is unclear where that project will fall.”
So, what’s going on here? Well, it’s tough to say as again, we haven’t heard from the studio. The writer may have jumped the gun and revealed something he shouldn’t have. Or maybe he just got mixed up and misunderstood what he heard. Regardless, this is yet another interesting twist in the tale and is more evidence that Ben won’t return. After all, this would be an easy way for the studio to keep Bats on the big screen while still letting Affleck go, which seems to be the goal.
Really, at this point, all we need is an announcement from WB to make it official. Whether we’ll get that anytime soon or not remains to be seen, but we have to say, things certainly aren’t looking good for Batfleck fans right now.
Tell us, what do you think of THR’s story? Is Ben Affleck going to be replaced for The Batman? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place.
