It’s been a tough couple of weeks for fans of the Caped Crusader, as Ben Affleck’s commitment to Warner Bros.’ burgeoning cinematic universe has been called into question more times than we can count. Even with the actor reaffirming his love of the character at San Diego Comic-Con, doubt was still cast over his involvement beyond Matt Reeves’ The Batman and of course, the studio is refusing to comment.
But some good news surfaced earlier today when we were told that not only had Affleck reportedly signed on for the entire planned trilogy that Reeves is cooking up, but that the studio was also plotting a Batman Beyond film. It seemed too good to be true and indeed, it was, as now that report has been debunked by two separate sources via Twitter: Batman-News and scoopster extraordinaire, Umberto Gonzalez.
Seconded
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) July 28, 2017
Again, there’s still nothing from Warner Bros. on the matter, but both of these sources are usually pretty on the ball with their intel and given that the initial rumor originated on a small, South African website, we’re inclined to believe what Batman-News and Gonzalez are saying here. It’s interesting to note, however, that they only deny the part about Ben signing on, and don’t mention anything about the plans for Batman Beyond.
After all, if Ben really is planning on leaving – which at this point, it seems like it’s just a matter of when and not if – it’d make sense to adapt Beyond and head down that route, thus allowing the studio to keep the Caped Crusader in the DCEU even without Affleck’s Bruce Wayne.
With the actor now 44 years old, it’s not like he’ll be able to keep on playing the role for much longer anyways, so whether it’s after The Batman he walks or once the trilogy is complete, WB’s going to need to find someone new to take up the mantle eventually and Beyond‘s Terry McGinnis seems like as good a choice as any.
But enough speculation. For now, there’s simply no way to know for sure what’ll happen and until Warner Bros. decides to let us in on their plans, we’ll operate under the assumption that Ben Affleck will be around until, at the very least, The Batman. Whether he’ll remain on board after that, however, remains to be seen.
