With the news that Ben Affleck would write, direct, and star in The Batman, everyone expected the Dark Knight reboot to hit theaters sometime in 2019. But since then, Affleck has dropped out of the project, and numerous reports – fueled by interviews with the actor – have stated that he won’t even take on the lead role now that Matt Reeves is involved as writer and director.

Evidently, we'll have to wait a bit longer for more news about the film.

With Justice League’s lackluster performance, and the changes Warner Bros. made after it was released, we can expect further delays. Many fans believe that it will be a couple of years before we see a Batman solo flick, and it certainly won’t happen before Flashpoint reboots the shared universe.

But make no mistake: The Batman is still happening! During an interview on the podcast The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith, Reeves revealed that he’d created a storyline for the film, although he hadn’t started the process of writing the script:

I am outlining. I have the story worked out, and I am outlining.

We take this to mean that the studio hasn’t seen the storyline yet, so the rumors that The Batman will start production in 2018 might be a bit off.

Reeves was announced as director of the Batman reboot in early 2017. At the time, he was working on War for the Planet of the Apes (released in July 2017), so he didn’t have much time to begin work on the much-anticipated Batman movie.

If the rumors that Warner Bros. is working on a restart for the DC shared universe via Flashpoint are true, the wait will be well worth it.