When The Batman was first announced in its original iteration, Ben Affleck was set to have more creative input than any other actor to have ever headlined a standalone comic book movie of their own.
The two-time Academy Award winner was due to star, co-write, executive produce, and direct the DCEU blockbuster, so his fingerprints would have been all over every frame from the scripting stage right through to post-production. Sadly, Affleck dropped out of the director’s chair, and then The Batman itself, with Matt Reeves’ reboot coming to theaters in less than eight weeks after the project was reworked from the ground up.
Fans are beginning to resign themselves to the fact The Flash will mark the end of the line for Zack Snyder’s Dark Knight, even though there are plenty of folks still holding onto the glimmer of hope that Affleck’s solo Batman adventure will happen eventually.
In an interview with the LA Times, Affleck explained why he ended up dropping The Batman altogether, and it sounds as though he simply wasn’t interested or invested enough in tackling such a massive film.
“Directing Batman is a good example. I looked at it and thought, ‘I’m not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it.’ You’re supposed to always want these things, and I probably would have loved doing it at 32 or something. But it was the point where I started to realize it’s not worth it. It’s just a wonderful benefit of reorienting and recalibrating your priorities that once it started being more about the experience, I felt more at ease.”
The 49 year-old revealed in the past that concerns over his personal well-being also impacted his decision, but at least we’ve got The Flash to look forward to in November, which should hopefully sent Batfleck out in a blaze of glory.
