Matt Reeves’ The Batman is now turning out to be one of the most talked about and sort of “Controversial” topic as almost every day of the week, we get reports and rumors which suggest Ben Affleck either leaving or continuing with the Worlds of DC and most importantly in The Batman! There have been at least 50 reports claiming his exit or continuation, but most of them have claimed that Batfleck is done and we have to be ready for a new Batman.
Well, there is some good news as The Batman is now stated to begin production in Spring 2019 according to the report of Production Weekly, but the point to be noted in the report is that Ben Affleck will be a producer on the project. Affleck’s involvement with the project will obviously be most welcome, but this also syncs with the latest rumors going on around the Batman.
According to what rumors have suggested till now, The Batman is supposed to find a Bruce Wayne who will be the centerpiece of a storyline which is based upon Frank Miller’s “Year One”. Here’s what RotF wrote:
“In short, if Batman v Superman bore a passing resemblance to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, then The Batman will bear a resemblance to Miller’s Batman: Year One.”
So, if the story is indeed focussing on Batman: Year One, then Ben Affleck will not be playing the Caped Crusader in at least Matt Reeves’ The Batman (and the sequels to follow). Since he will be involved as the producer to the film, he will have a continued involvement with WB and the Worlds of DC, so we should not rule out the possibility that he will continue to play Batman in the movies which are set in the present Timelines.
The Batman will obviously be a prequel story set up before the events of Batman V Superman. Matt Reeves signed on to make a movie which will be set in its own world and not connect too much to the rest of the DCEU or WOD, and this would be the perfect opportunity to do that.
For now, the studios are mum about Ben Affleck being Batman in Matt Reeves’ probable trilogy, but since they have not confirmed it for so long now, it highly likely that he won’t be the younger Batman that Matt Reeves needs. A fan online tried to fix the problem by showing us a morphed look at a de-aged Affleck and this could literally work in theory and look awesome at the same time. Have a look:
Affleck does not do his Batman fight stunts himself anyway, so this could work, but the cost of production will go up instantaneously since, in order to make him look as young as this image WB might have to put in some de-aging CGI as just makeup could not do that. We have seen what WB did to Superman through CGI, so we should not even think about a risk like that. But keeping all those fears aside, a fan has shown this possibility using just the Face App, and it works really well in the following video:
https://twitter.com/LandonOLeary/status/1025988436963016704
So, a VFX facial touch up may actually work if WB should consider it. But it will have to be spot on in every scene. Almost the entire world has now come to love and accept Affleck as their Batman, and taking him away even before a proper portrayal would be unjust. On the other hand, a younger actor could be considered to save all the cost involved as Ben Affleck will be much more expensive, plus the facial touch up would also add to the cost of production. Affleck’s age also comes into consideration as if WB is looking to put out a trilogy, then his age would matter because he will surely not want to continue doing it past 50 years of age, or something like that.
https://twitter.com/LandonOLeary/status/1027097673206296576
Matt Reeves has been pretty vague about Affleck dropping or staying with the role and here’s what he said in his latest interview:
“From the beginning, what I had always spoken about with Warner Brothers and what I was excited about was being in the Batuniverse and really doing something within that sphere. That was always what it was going to be so in that way it hasn’t changed a lot since I first met with them. It’s very much the same thrust if that makes sense. A lot of things have happened since then, but the movie, and why I’m excited about it, is it continues to be the same inspirations and excitement of what we talked about in the beginning.”
The Batman will probably hit the theatres in late 2020, or early 2021.
