We’re excited to see Ben Affleck return as Batman in The Flash, which will be his fourth appearance as the Dark Knight. For a while, it’s been accepted that the movie will mark his final turn in the costume, especially given how the actor effectively announced his retirement a few years ago. However, new reports from our sources are claiming that he is now open to continue in new projects as the character.
Of course, there have been various rumours over Affleck’s future as Bruce Wayne, which intensified around the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League cut, and the positive response to his performance in the extended picture. We recently heard that HBO Max are keen on finally giving the 48-year-old his own solo outing, as well as a limited series. Indeed, the launch of the streaming platform has seemingly opened up new possibilities for the DCEU Batman to survive in some form or another.
One complication, though, is where things will be left off in The Flash, with that version of the Caped Crusader possibly meeting a more definitive fate than first thought. What could perhaps work are standalone stories taking place before the events of Andy Muschietti’s film, or something based in a different universe. Whatever the case, set photos and hints on how Affleck will line up against Michael Keaton in The Flash suggest that Warner Bros. want to give him an appropriate send-off.
Affleck changing his mind about retiring as Batman wouldn’t, then, be as far-fetched as it may have been pre-HBO Max. With Keaton also pencilled in for reprising the role, having multiple iterations of one of their biggest heroes makes both commercial and practical sense if the performers are happy to sign on for additional productions. For now, we’ll wait for official confirmation, but it is looking increasingly more plausible as we get closer to the 2022 debut of The Flash.
