When Ben Affleck was announced to portray the Caped Crusader in the newly formed DCEU, everybody lost their mind. We were wondering, however, why he doesn't direct a superhero flick instead. Given his credentials, he is perfectly suited to direct a movie about the world's best detective (if you haven't seen The Town or Gone Baby Gone, see them now!)
We weren't the only ones wondering this. In September last year, the rumors started to spread saying that Ben Affleck will indeed direct the first movie of a new Batman trilogy, simply called The Batman. Furthermore, the co-writer was said to be Geoff Johns, who penned the scripts for quite a few DC animated flicks.
Now we can say that those rumors were true, since Ben Affleck talked with USA Today and said that he never had the intention of doing this from the first place. That is until he saw Zack Snyder at work: "I'll just say going through the process, I would never have imagined that I could or would direct a movie like this. And in working with (Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder) and seeing what he did and watching him every day, I got really inspired by that and by seeing the scope on which he was telling the story, by seeing what he was able to do with this kind of mythic story on a grand scale."
For the moment, there isn't any Batman solo flick scheduled for release. And for good reason, we say, since Ben Affleck stars this year in two DC flicks (Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad), while he will also be present in both of the Justice League films (2017 and 2019). Furthermore, Ben Affleck is also rumored to appear in Wonder Woman as well - so there are already 5 blockbusters on the horizon for him.
He simply doesn't have the time, for the moment, being involved in other projects as well (for example, he stars and directs 2017's Live by Night, a movie set in the Prohibition Era and which also revolves around the world of organized crime).
So when will he have the time? We have no idea.
