There was a time when Ben Affleck planned to direct and star in The Batman. Unfortunately, the actor had such a rotten time working on Justice League's reshoots under Joss Whedon's supervision, he wiped his hand with the role and this project.
Zack Snyder managed to convince the actor to play Bruce Wayne again for the "Snyder Cut," of course, and Affleck has since lent his talents to The Flash for what sounds like a glorified cameo (in an earlier cut, he'd have appeared in a post-credits scene setting up Crisis on Infinite Earths).
Talking at Snyder's "Full Circle" event this weekend (via The Direct), Affleck talked about his plans for The Batman's planned lead villain Deathstroke.
"There were a number of them that I was kind of exploring. And, the plans were to make interesting, nuanced, complex characters, in particular to the character you mentioned," he said, referencing Joe Manganiello's Slade Wilson. "I kind of feel like either you do - I'm just going to get into my own preference here - but either you do a kind of massive one villain that is so formidable you just can't imagine how your protagonist is going to be able to overcome it."
"Or you have to really sort of populate kind of, you know, Injustice - these big group villains - where you have to get all these different characters."
Very little has been revealed about Affleck's vision for The Batman, though we know original plans called for Deathstroke to learn the Dark Knight's secret identity from Lex Luthor. From there, the assassin would have set about dismantling Bruce's life, with Nightwing possibly getting in on the action as well.
Affleck added, "I was at the time really trying to hone in and focus on [Deathstroke] and get into depth and detail about it to make him seem as impressive as I felt there was the opportunity to do. That's the only detail I have for you."
Despite comments from DC Studios boss James Gunn to the contrary, Affleck has said outright he's not interested in being part of the DCU and is unlikely to ever return as Batman. There have been rumblings about the actor joining the MCU, but those have so far come to nothing.
Matt Reeves' The Batman II is set to be released in theaters on October 3, 2025.