Summary
- Ben Affleck's Batman movie, which was ultimately scrapped and turned into "The Batman" starring Robert Pattinson, had the potential to explore uncharted storylines in the Batman mythos from a fresh perspective.
- The project was well-received by DC alumni Jay Oliva, who worked on it, and he described it as "f-king awesome" and "amazing."
- Ben Affleck will not continue as Batman, but Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa are still part of the future plans for the DC franchise.
With Gal Gadot seemingly set to continue in the role of Wonder Woman in the new DCU, fans are once again questioning why everyone other than Henry Cavill’s Superman and Ben Affleck’s Batman seem to be continuing on into the next phase of the DC franchise. While speaking to Inverse in a recent interview, DC alumni Jay Oliva, added more fuel to the “what-might-have-been” fires but sharing some details about that much talked about, but never to be seen Batfleck movie that Ben Affleck was going to direct and star in.
The journey of many superhero movies that don’t have a Marvel Studios tag attached to them has been one fraught with dangers and pitfalls, and there have been a lot of projects that have fallen by the wayside on their way to the big screen. One of those was Ben Affleck’s Batman movie, which ended up being reworked into The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, and directed by Matt Reeves. According to Oliva, just as The Batman takes the Dark Knight back to his comic book roots, Affleck’s movie that going to be heavily invested in the history of the Caped Crusader. He said:
"I can't really say too much other than it was f-king awesome. It was the best. It was amazing. From my understanding, there were a couple of drafts of it. When I was brought on, I don't know whether it was the second draft or something, but it was what Geoff Johns and Ben [Affleck] had shown me. I've worked on a lot of Batman things and what was really cool about it was, it was tying together a lot of really cool Batman storylines that had never been really explored.
Ben's story was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics but was building off of storylines in the Batman mythos over the last 80 years and approaching it from a new kind of perspective. It was very clever and there were a lot of things about it that I really loved that I wish that had come to fruition. It was a really great project in the beginning. Ben had to step away for personal reasons, and I totally understood, but the time that I spent with Ben working on the project was fantastic. Maybe someday I can spill the beans, but I still can't talk about it."
Gal Gadot Joins Jason Momoa as DCU Crossover Stars
Even though Ben Affleck made an appearance in The Flash as Bruce Wayne and Batman, it seems that they are likely his final times in the dual role. The DC franchise is moving on to new things with James Gunn and Peter Safran jumping to the helm of the ship and steering it away from the old Snyderverse for good. Well, unless you remember that Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa seem to still have a place in the future of the comic book franchise.
In the last few days it has been confirmed by Gadot that she will be developing Wonder Woman 3 with Gunn and Safran, and will continue in the role for the foreseeable future. Jason Momoa has already given a clear indication that he will be part of the new DCU, and although Ezra Miller’s The Flash has a more uncertain place in the franchise, his involvement has not been ruled out. For fans of both Affleck and Henry Cavill, it is another bone of contention in the on-going saga of what should be Warner Bros. crowing glory.