Ben Affleck Is Finally, Officially, No Longer The Batman

After a more than a bit of hemming and hawing and to’ing and fro’ing and will he-ing and won’t he-ing, we’ve finally got fairly concrete confirmation: Ben Affleck is the big screen Batman no more.

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Deadline reports today that Affleck is finally, and officially, done with the role he filled with mild enthusiasm across three movies – Batman vs Superman: Dawn of JusticeSuicide Squad, and Justice League.

This follows confirmation that Warner Bros has set a tentative release date of June 25 2021 for their next film instalment of the Caped Crusader saga, The Batman.

That film is the project originally assigned to Affleck, and would represent his first (and lone) turn as Batman in a purely standalone capacity.

However in February 2017 Affleck left the project, sparking speculation he was done with the role altogether after his three efforts resulted in middling box office success and critical revulsion.

Warner and DC took some time to re-focus their big screen comic book efforts, and thus Cloverfield and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves was brought on board as The Batman‘s new director.

The upcoming film will reportedly centre on a much younger version of Bruce Wayne than Affleck portrayed, necessitating a change in casting. It’s possible the version of Wayne in the film could wind up being younger than that of Christian Bale in the now-iconic Dark Knight trilogy.

Affleck, for his part, tweeted earnest words of encouragement earlier today.

Not much is known about The Batman as far as casting or plot goes. However we do know that the film will not be based on the Frank Miller classic Year One series.

Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess.

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