Zack Snyder’s New Batman Photo Makes Me Sad We Didn’t Get That Ben Affleck Solo DCEU Movie

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DC Studios’ co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran haven’t yet revealed who will be playing the DCU’s new Batman, though the Caped Crusader did make a cameo appearance in the animated Creature Commandos series. Filmmaker Zack Snyder has been reminiscing recently, however, and has shared a photo of Ben Affleck in the Batman costume and the brown trench coat — which he sported in the “Knightmare” scenario in the Zack Snyder’s Justice League director’s cut. The atmospheric image makes me wish Ben Affleck got his planned-but-unrealized solo movie as Batman.

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Why Ben Affleck’s Batman Movie Never Came to Fruition in the DCEU

Ben Affleck was officially cast as Bruce Wayne’s Batman in 2013, and, shortly after, Affleck himself started to develop a solo movie for him to direct and star in, co-written with Geoff Johns. This project was titled The Batman, and was intended to release after Justice League in 2017. The movie was shelved, however, after the mixed reception to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as the entire DCEU underwent a shift, but this prompted Affleck to announce he would no longer direct the movie. Affleck’s exit as director allowed Matt Reeves to be hired in his place.

Reeves completely changed the story to focus on a younger Bruce Wayne earlier in his career as Batman — who was played by Robert Pattinson in Reeves’ 2022 movie, The Batman. The ending of Justice League, which saw Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) tease the formation of the Legion of Doom, originally ended with Luthor sending Deathstroke after Batman. This would have set up Affleck’s solo movie, but Warner Bros. made this impossible. Affleck’s solo movie would have seen Deathstroke pulling Batman’s life apart, culminating in an epic showdown, but this never came to pass.

Behind the scenes turmoil and controversial choices by Warner Bros. and the former DC Films pushed Affleck to officially retire as Batman when it became clear his solo movie would not come to fruition. He briefly appeared in The Flash in 2023, and supposedly had a cameo appearance in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but this was seemingly cut. We wish we got more exploration of Ben Affleck’s Batman in a solo movie that could have leaned into his detective skills and history, but, instead, our excitement has recently been rising for the DCU’s official Batman debut.

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