Ben Affleck Actually Returning As Batman After The Flash?
Ben Affleck has not been confirmed to return as Batman after The Flash and we examine the pros and cons of the idea.
Ben Affleck will return as Batman in the upcoming movie The Flash, but it still remains uncertain whether he will continue playing the Dark Knight in other future films. Even the idea of Ben Affleck playing Batman has been a controversial one from the beginning of Zack Snyder’s DC Extended Universe to the current emerging DC Universe under the helm of James Gunn, so it is not like it has ever been all that certain. However, plenty of fans are increasingly speculating that he will be back as Bruce Wayne, so we can break down the pros and cons of that idea.
On one hand, the DC Universe currently has plenty of Caped Crusaders even if it loses Ben Affleck as Batman. The actor will be joined by fellow Bruce Wayne actor Michael Keaton for The Flash with rumors that at least one other performer known for playing the role might also pop up in some multiversal capacity. If you then add in Robert Pattinson returning to the character for The Batman Part II, DC Studios has a lot of options without trying to retain Affleck.
On the other hand, Ben Affleck seems surprisingly willing to stick with the role of Batman, even if that means becoming a topic of Internet fan anger yet again, this time over a perceived bra. Apparently, he even returned for reshoots for The Flash, which unless he was contractually obligated to (which he very well might have been), is a lot for a role that he has been warned might literally kill him.
But back to the con idea, Ben Affleck was also initially reported to be appearing as Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but rumor has it that he has been completely rewritten out of the movie. However, test screenings for the Jason Momoa movie have allegedly been going extremely poorly, so perhaps James Wan might need a little injection of Batfleck into the film, which has the enormous expectations of following the highest-grossing DC movie to date on it.
While the DC Universe is currently chockful of Batmen, James Gunn has already announced that the upcoming The Brave and the Bold movie will not feature a current actor in the role of Bruce Wayne dealing with fatherhood. That is yet another Batman role that Affleck will not be involved with, which keeps chipping away at the idea that he might return post-Flash.
That does not mean that Ben Affleck is done with the DC Universe, just because he will likely be done with Batman. James Gunn has also confirmed that the once-and-future Daredevil actor is up for directing a film for DC Studios and that it is just a matter of finding the right project for him. Affleck was already announced at one point to be directing the movie that eventually became Matt Reeves’ The Batman, so we are not going to hold out much hope on that one.
At the very least, we know we’ll get a gray and blue Ben Affleck Batman in The Flash. What happens after that is up in the air (or Batwing, as it were).
