We should certainly call this past summer “The Summer of Batman Rumors” as the cloud that has already been surrounding the upcoming Justice League film has left doubts in the minds of many fans. As the rumor mill started right before July, it was said that DC Entertainment were preemptively looking to replace Affleck, as the studio was considering major changes “in some shape or form in one of the upcoming DC films.”
Since Matt Reeves came on board, the direction of The Batman has changed, with Affleck’s script no longer being used. He instead will provide a quite different look, as he said in an interview soon after taking over the director’s mantle:
“It’s really that emotionality that I am interested in,” he said. “I want to do a very point-of-view-driven [film]. In all the films what I try to do, in almost a Hitchcockian sense, is use the camera and use the storytelling so that you become the character and you empathize with that point of view,” he said. “I think there is a chance to do an almost noir-driven detective version of Batman that is point of view driven in a very, very powerful way. And hopefully it is going to connect you to what’s going on inside of his head and inside of his heart.”
Affleck’s latest appearance as Batman is in Justice League, which hits theaters on November 17. In an interview for the press junket for the upcoming superhero team up film, with the TV show, Extra, when asked if he will play Batman five times total, he reluctantly replied “I don’t know about that, we’ll see what the future holds.” You can see his reply at the :38 second mark in the video below:
Although, this neither a confirmation nor denial, Affleck’s devotion to the character doesn’t seem to be on par with past suitors of Batman, which may be due to fatigue from the rigors of filmmaking and the stunt work involved. As it stands, it remains to be seen if we will see Ben Aflleck as Bruce Wayne and Batman in his own film.
