Justice League threw a huge wrench into Warner Bros.’ ambitions of assembling a cinematic universe to rival the MCU. Over six months later we’re still experiencing the fallout, with each week bringing word of behind the scenes reshuffles of what and what isn’t going into production. Matt Reeves’ The Batman has been hit by this uncertainty more than most projects, with its status not exactly helped by Ben Affleck’s will he/won’t he statements on donning the cowl for a solo movie.
According to the El Fanboy Podcast, Warner Bros. are thinking about telling the tale of a younger Dark Knight and treating it as a standalone film, but that’s not set in stone just yet. If Aquaman and Shazam! bomb, then they’ll place Reeves’ flick in its own continuity. If those two films are smash hits, though (I’m going to assume Wonder Woman 1984 will be successful, whatever else happens), and the DCEU starts a long rehabilitative process amongst critics and audiences, then they’ll tie it back into the shared universe.
Here’s the rumor straight from the horse’s mouth:
“So essentially, they want to develop this Batman movie as if it is a reboot, as if it’s all new. But they’re not gonna make any overt statements about it, they’re just gonna make a movie about a younger Batman, who – I believe it takes place in the past, which will create a backdoor for if they ever do want to cross-pollinate him with the other DC characters again.
They’re going to make Batman as his own standalone franchise, they’re gonna basically start him over again to a degree, but they’re going to leave a back door open so that, depending on how the next few DCÂ movies do, from there, they can decide which continuity he’s a part of and whether or not they’re gonna push forward on the shared concept and do more crossover movies.”
This is a smart move on Warner Bros.’ part, and perhaps indicative of the recent changes that’ve been going on amongst the top-level producers working on the DCEU. I just hope that we don’t get another retelling of the Dark Knight’s origin story, as Batman Begins wasn’t that long ago (seeing the Waynes getting killed over and over again is getting pretty repetitive).
What’s also interesting is that these comments indicate a shift in policy from Warner Bros., in that they’re prepared to write off the DCEU altogether if these upcoming films flop. I assume they’ll be keeping a very close eye on Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie, which won’t be a DCEU project (and may, in fact, share a universe with Matt Reeves’ pic), to see if they can use it as a model for future adaptations.
Either way, as we hear more about what they’ve got planned for The Batman, we’ll be sure to let you know.
