After playing the Caped Crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, the plan had been for Ben Affleck to helm The Batman. He'd also reprise the role in a movie pitting Bruce Wayne against Deathstroke, with much of the action taking place in Arkham Asylum.
Years before the project fell apart, Affleck was rumoured to be in the running to helm Man of Steel. In an interview with Josh Horowitz, the actor and filmmaker finally set the record straight on whether those reports were true.
"No, I did not meet with them about [Man of Steel]," Affleck confirmed. "I was considering at a time directing a standalone Batman movie after that and did not feel like ultimately I wanted to do that. But no, I didn't. And there haven't been too many movies that I turned down."
He went on to reveal that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was offered to him, but despite being a Star Wars fan, he quickly realised, "I'm not the person to direct this movie."
Affleck continued, "That's not like some great self-sacrificing thing because I thought I didn't know that I could make a great version of Star Wars or reinvent it. A lot of the challenges to reinvent that you've seen play out. It hasn't been easy for them to reinvent that franchise. Some have done really well, [but] you've got this whole fan base that's got its own very strong opinions."
Back to The Batman, and the Oscar winner confirmed that his "negative" Justice League experience was a big part of why he walked away.
"The truth is that the experience of Justice League for me was so, so negative for lots of different reasons. Some of which had to do with where I was personally, and some of which had to do with some of the tragedy that happened during that time. And also the fact that I really saw how not to make a movie like that, which is when the studio is at odds with the filmmaker."
"That was what really doomed that. I was really glad and gratified that Zack got to release, and he did it in a very kind of canny way, manipulated his way into getting his thing released, which was f***ing great, and I was really happy for him," Affleck recalled. "Boy, that was shitty that him being taken off that movie and the reshoots that we did. That's the low, if you want the low point of my career, was that."
While Batman is now in his rearview, much has been said in recent years about Affleck potentially reprising the role of Daredevil in the MCU. His Man Without Fear was featured in concept art for 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, and a cameo in Avengers: Secret Wars would make sense.
Asked whether Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has reached out to him about returning as Matt Murdock, Affleck responded, "He hasn't. I wish he would. I just feel that I've kind of done my superhero movies, and I don't know that there's anything left for me that's particularly interesting for me to do."
"But I will say that of all the producers in the world who have pretended to kind of know what the audience wants, the only guy I would ever believe is Kevin Feige."
We wouldn't bank on Affleck suiting up as Daredevil again, and with Robert Pattinson now playing Batman (and DC Studios still developing The Brave and the Bold), his time in the cape and cowl is obviously also at an end.
You can hear more from Affleck in the player below.