What exactly happened to Ben Affleck’s dream of being the caped crusader? It’s been confirmed that there will be no Batfleck in the upcoming 2021 movie, The Batman — but why? Personal reasons, creative differences.. or something else entirely?
The word on the street was that Ben Affleck simply bit off more than he could chew; directing, acting and all. But the truth is a lot simpler than that.
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After the incredible success of the Marvel cinematic universe, DC Comics and Warner Bros wanted to take a swing at this shared universe stuff, and I think it’s fair to say they were stumped. The DC Extended Universe, at this stage, is a hot mess.
Warner Brothers rushed into the whole shared universe thing to cash-in and no real thought or effort was put into developing stories or characters. Marvel, on the other hand, released 3 movies for each of their heroes before making the Avengers. And now Warner Bros is suffering… but they have learned from their mistake and are making a huge effort to make things right.
Although it hasn’t been officially announced, Warner Bros has been dropping obvious hints of a hard reset, and Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, is the first movie to pave the way for the future of the franchise — and it looks bloody amazing!
Warner Bros. have decided to go an entirely new and fresh direction; exchanging the crazy set pieces and special effects for an actual story making super heroes and villains more human than ever. Matt Reeves’, The Batman, is also set in this new world and that’s the only reason Affleck won’t be returning; it woul be a bit confusing seeing him play the Batman in an alternative universe.
The Batman, which will release in 2021, is set a after the events of Joker where a young Bruce Wayne is a detective for the Gotham P.D. who uncovers corruption within its ranks. Matt Reeve’s described the upcoming Batman film as a noir-esque crime film that should match the tone set by Joker.
Warner Brothers really seem to be on the ball recently; getting the Wachowskis and Keanu Reeves back for another Matrix movie and now rebooting the DCEU. It’s not like Ben Affleck was a bad Bruce Wayne. The little we saw of him as the dark knight gave us hope for a good standalone film, but unfortunately terrible writing, poor direction and bad reviews has forced Warner Bros’ hand in resetting the universe. That’s bad news for Ben Affleck but great news for us.