If Warner Bros. and DC Films weren’t sold on the idea of Matt Reeves taking a clean break from DCEU continuity and setting The Batman in a different corner of the mythology, then they’d have just hired a director that was willing to keep Ben Affleck on as the Dark Knight.
After all, the actor hadn’t officially retired the cape and cowl when Reeves first boarded the project, and history has shown that the studio are more than happy to get a little too involved in both the creative and decision making processes when it comes to their big budget comic book blockbusters.
The plan is now to move forward with two separate Batman franchises, though, with Robert Pattinson and Michael Keaton being kept at a distance from each other, but the impending introduction of the multiverse in The Flash means that nothing can be definitively taken off the table by any stretch of the imagination.
To that end, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who first told us Affleck would be ending his self-imposed exile and returning for the Scarlet Speedster’s solo debut long before it was confirmed – that Jared Leto is interested in having his version of the Joker cross paths with Pattinson’s rebooted Caped Crusader at some point in the future.
Of course, just because an actor wants something to happen it doesn’t mean that the boardroom would even entertain the possibility, but you get the distinct impression that Leto agreed to cameo in Zack Snyder’s Justice League to try and get his foot back in the DC door. And if fans respond well to his second stab at the Clown Prince of Crime, then he could well return for more. Although at this point, there are at least three versions of Batman potentially in the mix for him to cross paths with.
