Everyone knows that The Batman originally began life as a very different project, one that was set to follow Zack Snyder’s Justice League and see Ben Affleck star, direct, co-write and executive produce a standalone feature following his grizzled, world-weary Dark Knight.
Once Matt Reeves came aboard and Affleck temporarily retired the cape and cowl, though, the movie morphed into something else. We’re now just months away from Robert Pattinson’s debut as the latest big screen iteration of the Dark Knight, one that remains completely untethered to DCEU continuity.
In an interview with Empire, producer Dylan Clark explained that once the decision was made to wipe the slate clean and rebuild The Batman from scratch, everyone was in agreement to have this particular pocket of the DC universe stand on its own two feet, away from what the rest of the franchise’s superheroes are doing.
“Warner Bros. has a multiverse where they’re exploring different ways to use the character… We don’t get involved in that. Matt is interested in pushing this character to his emotional depths and shaking him to his core.”
On the plus side, we’re getting three Caped Crusaders next year, with Pattinson’s The Batman being followed in November by The Flash, which features Affleck and Keaton in supporting roles. The downside is that Spider-Man: No Way Home has set the multiversal comic book bar very high, with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness out of the gate next, so some folks might be disappointed to know that Pattinson won’t be crossing over.
