While all has seemed to be well within The DCEU for 2017, a new report states that Ben Affleck’s future could be in doubt as Batman.
The Hollywood Reporter claims a source has given them the following information:
A source with knowledge of the situation says that the studio is working on plans to usher out Affleck’s Batman — gracefully, addressing the change in some shape or form in one of the upcoming DC films.
Exactly when and how that might happen has yet to be determined, but it would be wise to bet against Affleck starring in The Batman. Already he has stepped away from directing the film and Reeves is dropping the script that Affleck wrote with D.C. Entertainment’s Geoff Johns.
Reeves also has acknowledged that he has a Batman trilogy rolling around in his head, and given his success making two-thirds of a trilogy out of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes, it seems fair to anticipate that Warners will want him to realize his vision.
In addition, Affleck will turn 45 in August, so he would be pushing 50 before The Batman arrives in theaters. If Reeves makes a trilogy, Affleck would be in his mid-50s at best by the time that’s done. Maybe Tom Cruise could pull that off but Affleck’s body hasn’t exactly been a temple.
And while male stars have been able to stretch their action-film relevance further in an age when there are fewer bankable young stars (Robert Downey, Jr. is 52 and going strong as Iron Man), studios favor the fresh-faced — look what happened with Spider-Man, successfully rebooted with 21-year-old Tom Holland. (Affleck also just dropped out of the Netflix project Triple Frontier, and it’s not clear what his next movie will be. His reps declined to comment.)
The report also states that there could potentially be ‘Dual Batmen’:
Warners could hypothetically create dual Batmen, keeping Affleck in the role for a planned Justice League follow-up while letting Reeves cast his movie with a different star. But that hardly seems likely. The first Justice League already is at an inflection point: Director Zack Snyder has stepped away in mid-production and his successor, Joss Whedon, is said to be doing extensive reshoots.
Reports earlier in this year from various different outlets were dismissed as ‘clickbait’ and ‘rumors’, which is why we were initially skeptical about this story – but THR is pretty plugged in to the Entertainment industry. There’s no denying that.
Hopefully, someone will acknowledge these reports over the weekend.