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Ben Affleck Not Ruling Out A Return For The Batman

One of the most hotly-contested of all the upcoming DCEU projects is The Batman, with the future of the movie up in the air at the moment. In the wake of Justice League's theatrical release, we learned that Ben Affleck likely won't return for the solo film that he was initially slated to write, direct and star in. Instead, Jake Gyllenhaal is said to be the top candidate to replace him, though other names such as Mad Men's Jon Hamm have also come up.

One of the most hotly-contested of all the upcoming DCEU projects is The Batman, with the future of the movie up in the air at the moment. In the wake of Justice League‘s theatrical release, we learned that Ben Affleck likely won’t return for the solo film that he was initially slated to write, direct and star in. Instead, Jake Gyllenhaal is said to be the top candidate to replace him, though other names such as Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm have also come up.

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Amidst all this behind-the-scenes upheaval, though, Affleck himself has now cut through the noise to make it known that despite reports to the contrary, he’s not ruling out a return as the Caped Crusader just yet. When asked in a recent interview if he sees himself coming back for another round, here’s what Big Ben had to say:

“For me, it’s interesting, and I always evaluate this stuff on the merit of the material. I want to direct a Batman movie, and I never got a script that I was happy with, so they are starting over and writing another script.

And right now, I think a lot of different possibilities I think for the way the DC Universe could go, and I will just follow my interests in pursing that. And I know that I love working with this group of people, and it was a real joy for me to make this movie.”

So, he doesn’t explicitly state one way or another whether he’ll be back for The Batman – and we didn’t expect him to – but it’s still nice to hear that he’s at least got some interest left in both the character and future DCEU films featuring him. Then again, from everything we’ve been told, it unfortunately doesn’t seem like Ben has much time left in the role. Numerous reports say Matt Reeves (who’s helming The Batman) is eyeing someone else for the Caped Crusader and it’s looking like Affleck’s last appearance in the franchise will come in Flashpoint.

Chalk that up as speculation for now, and how this all shakes out will be told in time, but at the moment, Warner’s sole focus will be ensuring they get things back on track after the disappointment that was Justice League. That being said, with The Batman still targeting a production start mid-way through 2018, it shouldn’t be too much longer before we get some kind of firm announcement from the studio in regards to which actor will be suiting up as the Dark Knight going forward. As always, watch this space for more.