I’m Still Torn Over The Fact That The DCEU’s Cancelled Batman Story Resulted In My Favourite Batman Movie

I stay conflicted concerning the DCEU’s canceled Batman film – I want I may have observed it, however its cancellation ended in my all-time favourite Batman film. Few superhero franchises have had as tumultuous a adventure because the DCEU timeline. Amid the highs and lows of its decade-long experiment, one specific casualty nonetheless haunts me as each a painful loss and a bizarre present: the solo Batman movie that Ben Affleck used to be intended to write down, direct, and celebrity in. Its cancellation left a void – but additionally cleared the path for person who in the long run become my favourite.
Ben Affleck debuted as Batman in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Crack of dawn of Justice, providing a darker, extra world-weary take at the personality. His efficiency stood out, even amid the movie’s divisive reception. With the Snyderverse already increasing, Warner Bros. wasted little time pronouncing that Affleck would helm his personal Batman solo movie, which he used to be additionally co-writing along DC stalwart Geoff Johns.
A Batman Film Starring Ben Affleck May just Have Been One thing Really Particular
Affleck Would Have Written, Directed, And Starred In The DCEU’s Batman Film
Ben Affleck’s Batman film used to be rumored to focus on Arkham Asylum and a mental descent into insanity, with Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke because the central villain. This may’ve been Batman’s resolution to The Raid or Die Exhausting, happening most commonly in a single location with grounded motion and emotional stakes. For plenty of, myself incorporated, this seemed like essentially the most thrilling Batman idea in years.
Sadly, it by no means materialized. Affleck stepped clear of directing, then from writing, and sooner or later, from the position completely. Inventive variations, private demanding situations, and the broader implosion of the Snyderverse all contributed. As such, the DCEU’s solo Batman movie – goodbye in building – vanished ahead of a unmarried body used to be shot.
There’s a large number of “what if” power surrounding Affleck’s Batman film. His efficiency in Batman v Superman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League hinted at a layered, emotionally damaged Bruce Wayne who’d been in the course of the wringer – loss, grief, and a long time of crime-fighting. Affleck’s older, hardened Batman used to be the maximum bodily implementing model observed on-screen, and his interpretation introduced new narrative chances that no prior Batman movie had explored.

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The perception of Batman being locked in Arkham, keeping off inmates he’d in my opinion put away over a decades-long profession, plus Deathstroke, a talented and private antagonist, creates a recipe for an intense, intimate, action-packed mystery. The tone promised to be extra grounded than Justice League however extra kinetic and comic-book trustworthy than Christopher Nolan’s realism.
Ben Affleck’s Batman Film Paving The Method To The Batman Is A Difficult Topic
The Batman Turned into Matt Reeves’ Imaginative and prescient As an alternative
What’s each irritating and engaging is how the cave in of Affleck’s Batman in the long run opened the door for a fully other imaginative and prescient. With Affleck out, director Matt Reeves used to be introduced in and presented the danger to reboot the undertaking completely. Reasonably than proceed throughout the DCEU, Reeves pitched a standalone detective noir with a more youthful Bruce Wayne, one unconnected to the continuity that had grown more and more convoluted.
The end result used to be The Batman (2022), starring Robert Pattinson in a brooding, year-two model of the Caped Crusader. In spite of my unhappiness over shedding Affleck’s movie, Reeves’ The Batman temporarily become my favourite Batman film ever made. The Batman delivered the entirety I by no means knew I wanted.

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Its tone used to be constant and immersive, its mystery-driven plot performed like a real detective tale, and Pattinson’s Batman felt nearer to the haunted vigilante of the comics than any model ahead of. The cinematography, the sound design, the stripped-down devices – all of it labored. The Gotham of Reeves’ movie is the maximum atmospheric thus far, and Michael Giacchino’s rating nonetheless echoes in my thoughts.
I am So Satisfied The Batman Used to be Made, However Nonetheless Unhappy We By no means Were given A Solo Batman Film When The DCEU Wanted It
Ben Affleck’s Batman May just Have Stored The DCEU
Therein lies the emotional whiplash. I like The Batman and wouldn’t industry it for the rest – aside from, perhaps, the film it changed. What stings essentially the most is that audiences may have had each. Affleck’s film wouldn’t have had to contradict Reeves’ movie; it might have existed in parallel because the franchise now does with James Gunn’s DCU.

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Whilst the DCEU used to be floundering with inconsistent tone and route, a solo Batman movie may have grounded the universe once more, given audiences a explanation why to spend money on the core heroes. Affleck’s Batman had unfinished trade – emotional arcs with Alfred, legacy questions, the Robin storyline – and it deserved closure. Much more irritating is that Affleck’s Batman best seemed in ensemble line-ups, when a solo film may have given the DCEU the spice up it wanted.
As an alternative, a promising personality arc dissolved in the back of the scenes. By the point the DCEU fizzled out utterly, the danger for a definitive Batman second inside of that universe had lengthy handed. Although The Batman used to be a triumph, it arrived as a part of a separate continuity that didn’t lend a hand the franchise that had first of all presented Affleck’s Batman in any respect. So, whilst I’m satisfied we were given The Batman, I’ll by no means prevent questioning what may just’ve been if Affleck had gotten the danger to complete what he began.

The Batman
- Free up Date
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March 4, 2022
- Runtime
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176 mins
- Writers
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Matt Reeves, Peter Craig, Bob Kane, Invoice Finger