Once upon a time, Ben Affleck was on board to write, direct and star in The Batman. In the wake of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, that opportunity went away, and was eventually rejected in a standalone reboot to kill Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader. By all accounts, including Affleck’s, the Snyderverse version of Batman was retired.
That was then, this is now.
According to Vanity Fair, Affleck is set to return to the role of Batman in the upcoming DC comic strip, The Flash. Rumors have swirled that the film would not only spin Ezra Miller’s Justice League speedster into its own franchise, but adapt the Flashpoint comic strip, and immerse itself in DC’s extensive multiverse. Early conversation suggested that Michael Keaton could potentially adapt as an older version of Batman, after appearing in the original 1989 film version. And now it looks like there are even more Batmen in the mix, with Affleck joining the cast. After appearing in HBO Max’s “Snyder Cut” from Justice League next year, the actor will appear alongside Miller in The Flash, set for the summer of 2022.
‘He’s a very substantial part of the film’s emotional impact. The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level we have never seen before, ”director Andy Muschietti (It) confirmed to Vanity Fair in an interview. ‘It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but her characters are more related than we think. They lost both mothers to murder, and that’s one of the film’s emotional ships. That’s where the Affleck kicks in Batman. ”
In comics, it is the alluring incident of the Flash point storyline is when Barry Allen used the power of the Speed Force to change his own timeline, and tried to prevent the murder of his mother. That single change rippled through the DC Universe, leading to enormous changes in the history and lives of its allies in the Justice League.
Muschietti added that “the film is a bit of a hinge in the sense that it presents a story that implies a uniform universe where all the cinematic iterations we’ve seen before are valid. […] It is inclusive in the sense that it says that everything you have seen exists, and everything you have will see exists, in the same unified multiverse. ”
For more on The Flash, head to Vanity Fair. The film is expected to make a splash at the DC FanDome event on Saturday, August 22nd.
