The long road to the new standaloneBatmanmovieThe Batmanhas been one fraught with plenty of hemming and hawing, but as directorMatt Reevesprepares to dive head first into the film after he’s done promotingWar for the Planet of the Apes, it appears he’ll be giving it something of a fresh start. Ever sinceBen Afflecksigned on to play Batman inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, there was the hope and expectation that he’d also possibly star in and direct his ownBatmanmovie. Affleck remained coy in the press about that prospect, even as Warner Bros. was somewhat stoking the fire. Finally, Affleck confirmed that theplanwas for him to direct aBatmanmovie, and that he’d been working on a screenplay with DC Films co-headGeoff Johns.
But a new development arose this past January when Affleck announced that he was no longer going to be directingThe Batman. This wasn’t the happiest of news, but as Affleck was tending to some personal issues, it seemed to make sense that he was prioritizing what was actually important over adding an insane workload to his roster for the next two years. The search for a director landed on Reeves, who broke out withCloverfieldand has helmed the last twoApesmovies to wild critical success. But while appearing onJosh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcastrecently, Reeves revealed that hewon’tbe working from the script that Affleck and Johns had been putting together and is instead starting over:
“No, it’s a new story. It’s just starting again. I’m excited about it. I think it’s going to be really cool.”
This news was actually first revealed by/Filmback in March, when they broke the news that Affleck’s original script was being scrapped in favor of starting over with Reeves at the helm. This isn’t entirely surprising—Reeves is a talented filmmaker with a strong point of view, so one imagines he’s not crazy about inheriting a half-finished take on the story and going from there. Indeed, you’ll recall thatnegotiations with Reeves broke down at one point, and I do wonder if that was over Warner Bros. wanting him to work from the existing story versus Reeves having the freedom to come up with his own take.
This could have major repercussions in the DCEU. Last year, during filming onJustice League, the news broke thatJoe Manganiellowas playing Deathstrokeas the primary villain inThe Batmanwith Affleck sharing an image of Manganiello in full costume, likely from a cameo inJustice League. Reeves has said his take on the story is more of a noir, and if he’s starting from scratch, it’s possible that Deathstroke is no longer the villain. Which would mean Manganiello’s cameo is almost certainly cut fromJustice League.
We’ll likely learn more in the coming weeks. Reeves hasn’t yet really dug intoThe Batmanas he’s been busy overseeing post-production onWar for the Planet of the Apes, and he’s at the tail end of the film’s press tour at the moment. Once that’s complete, he’ll likely get with Affleck and start working in earnest on puttingThe Batmantogether, but since the film doesn’t yet have a release date, there’s no ticking clock aside from Warner Bros.reallywanting this movie ASAP. Perhaps we’ll get an announcement at Comic-Con next week? Stay tuned.
