The relationship between Ben Affleck and Batman has been tumultuous to say the least, but despite the initial and inevitable backlash that first greeted his announcement as the Caped Crusader in August 2013, most fans would now be happy to see him stick around the DCEU a little while longer.
The actor’s grizzled performance was one of the highlights of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a much better representation of the character than the version we saw in the theatrical release, where you could just tell that Affleck had completely lost interest during the extensive reshoots to the point that he even described the experience as being akin to suffering.
In the interim, he was set to helm a solo movie cut from the same cloth as David Fincher’s The Game that would have positioned Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke as the superhero genre’s version of a horror movie villain, before he wound up retiring from the role altogether. Since then, he reversed his decision and suited up for the Snyder Cut reshoots, and will next be seen in The Flash.
A new rumor now claims that Affleck is keen to stay on as the DCEU’s Dark Knight, but only on the condition that Zack Snyder also remains on board. Of course, the filmmaker has nothing to do with The Flash unless he takes a ceremonial executive producer credit as he has on most of the franchise’s output, but a lot of people are expecting Affleck’s Batman to bid a fond farewell to the cape and cowl for good this time after the Scarlet Speedster’s solo debut.
There’s been so much speculation linking the 48 year-old with a multitude of movies and HBO Max exclusives already that it’s hard to get a handle on where his future as Batman really lies, but it should become clearer once we find out how the whole #RestoreTheSnyderVerse thing ends up resolving itself.
