Ben Affleck’s performance in Batman v Superman was widely praised as the best aspect of the film, so it’s no surprise Warner Bros. has tapped the rejuvenated filmmaker to write, direct and star in a Batman flick of his own. Having proven himself with The Town, Argo and Gone Girl, Affleck has seemingly been granted creative control over the next installment of Gotham, tentatively dubbed as The Batman.
While Affleck hasn’t spoken about his plans for The Batman as of late, the folks over at Cosmic Book News dug up a clip of Affleck addressing the subject at a Batman v Superman premiere back in March. Affleck was asked if he would borrow source material from stories like Batman: The Killing Joke and Red Hood if handed the reins to direct. Here’s what the actor said, courtesy of Cines Argentinos:
I think what I would do, what I probably would do, is in some ways what Zack did with this movie, which is to borrow certain things from the great comic books, but create an original story around it because I wouldn't want the fans to already know the story and be familiar, but I would borrow, steal, great things that have been done before in the comics.
We can’t be sure if Affleck had already been tapped to write/direct The Batman at the time of this interview, but the idea was on his mind either way. This seems to align with earlier reports suggesting that Affleck would not bring in Red Hood, but rather classic Batman villains in order to make the “definitive Batman film.”
We’ll find out for ourselves when Ben Affleck’s Batman movie premieres (hopefully) in 2018.