Over the years, we have seen so many Batman movies and so many actors playing the superhero, but it never seems enough. Our latest version of the Caped Crusader, Ben Affleck, made his debut as the character in this year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (he also had a cameo in Suicide Squad), and he’ll be back in next year's Justice League.
But that's not the only movie featuring his Dark Knight for us to look forward to. We are also eagerly awaiting his character's standalone movie, The Batman, which will most likely arrive in 2018. Unlike any other actor who’s played the superhero, Affleck's job is not limited to just donning the cape and cowl in front of the cameras. He is also in charge of penning the movie's script and calling the shots.
And Joe Manganiello, who is set to portray Deathstroke, is confident that Ben Affleck will show his excellence in every department. During a recent podcast interview with Pittsburgh's Mark Madden, the actor promises that The Batman is "a fresh take" that will surprise the audience. He explains:
Because it’s a road that no one’s really gone down that’s completely integral to, you know, who Batman is. And I think it’s gonna be refreshing but at the same time completely familiar.
Manganiello goes on to claim that The Batman is going to take the franchise in a direction that "a lot of people are going to be really happy about". He adds:
It’s going to be gritty and action-packed and cerebral and all of those elements that people love about Batman…everything is lined up for a really, really, really great movie. Not only a superhero movie, but just a great, great movie.
Of course, gritty is not a suitable word to get us excited about The Batman, but the other two - action-packed and cerebral - definitely are. The last one, especially, is something that even Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy lacked, at least to some extent. Surely we expect one of the world's greatest detectives do a little better than yelling, "Where is he?"
