Between news being buried in the DCEU thread over the past few months, and questions arising in the Joker thread, I'm getting the impression that not a lot of people are aware of Warner Bros.' current plans for their next live-action Batman iteration. If so, here's the rundown...

• Not too long ago, Ben Affleck's Batman was set to have his own, stand-alone movie in the DCEU. Affleck was also set to direct, he co-wrote a script, and a tentative 2019 release date was rumored. The script, however, was apparently not up to par, and Affleck eventually dropped out of directing, though stayed committed to starring in the movie.

• Warner Bros. then brought on writer/director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In, the last two Planet of the Apes movies) to write and direct. Publicly, Affleck said he could not be more excited to have Reeves on board, but behind the scenes rumblings had Affleck growing tired of the role in general and his commitment reportedly waned (no pun intended). Justice League then bombed, Affleck ultimately went to rehab for alcohol abuse, and though not official yet, it has been reported time and again that Affleck is almost assuredly done as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the DCEU. Having successfully completed rehab, and seemingly doing/looking better than ever, Affleck is apparently moving on from the Batman period of his life/career.

• Having known of Affleck's departure for some time now, Reeves has reportedly retooled/reimagined his script as a *new* iteration of Batman ("new" meaning likely different/separate from the DCEU version, but still true to the Batman we know and love). Rumors have this iteration as a Batman already fighting crime when we meet him (i.e. this will not be an origin story, thank God), one that will apparently lean more into the detective/noir aspects of the character. So not a young Batman, but not an older Batman either. It sounds like he could be anywhere from 30-40 years old in this version.

• Reeves delivered the first draft of this latest iteration to Warner Bros. last month and they apparently loved it. Reeves is now tweaking/finalizing the draft, with a tentative shooting date of late spring/early summer 2019, and a 2020 release. My guess is that, with the absence of Star Wars once more in December 2020, Warner Bros. will try and lock this in for that mid-December date, just like they did for Aquaman in Star Wars' absence this year, but I could also see this being a late summer 2020 release as well (in that late July slot that Warner Bros. loves), if they can get all their ducks are in a row sooner rather than later. It might depend on when, exactly, Avatar 2 is set to release, which will likely be looking to claim that mid-December slot as well. Either way, what this means is that once this next draft of the script is complete, casting will likely begin relatively soon, so expect an announcement on that front either later this year or early next.

• Finally, all signs point to this iteration being completely separate from the Joker movie as well, which is currently filming and set to hit theaters October 4, 2019, though the relation between the two hasn't been confirmed yet either way. In all likelihood, however, seeing as Joker is set in the early '80s, Warner Bros. will almost assuredly have THREE separate DC universes - this new Batman universe, the (likely one-off) Joker universe, and then of course a Batman-less, Superman-less DCEU, where Wonder Woman, the Suicide Squad characters, and whoever else makes the cut after Aquaman and Shazam!, will continue to have stand-alone movies (don't expect any DCEU characters to ever team up in a significant way again, especially considering that Cavill has now walked away from Superman as well).

So, yeah, that's literally all anyone knows at this point. Basically, the headline is that Matt Reeves is writing/directing a brand new Batman movie - tentatively titled The Batman - for release at some point in 2020, and we should start hearing more news relatively soon.

UPDATE: The official release date is now June 25, 2021.

Interesting spin if they pull it off well.

I wonder if Affleck grew tired of the role because he realized that Batman is a pretty boring character

Exactly.

at some point as an actor, you have to imagine making good movies is important to them too

How soon until the internet obsesses that Batman should be black?

For the record, I think Michael B. Jordan would be awesome as Batman.

mazag08 said:

---

How soon until the internet obsesses that Batman should be black?

For the record, I think Michael B. Jordan would be awesome as Batman.

---

It would make more sense to have a black Robin.

mazag08 said:

---

How soon until the internet obsesses that Batman should be black?

For the record, I think Michael B. Jordan would be awesome as Batman.

---

Michael B Jordan hasn't been very good without a Ryan Coogler script. Would welcome a black Batman tho!

With the delivery of this draft any day now, casting, pre-production, etc. should start gearing up in the new year...

https://instagr.am/p/BrQwI8NlbNh

I would watch a feature length movie of someone playing the Arkham games because it would mean they finally got the perfect Batman on film

What are you hearing on possible casting?

I don't quite understand the complaint here. Bale played him for what felt like an appropriate amount of time, that iteration came to a definitive end, and then Affleck gave it a solid effort, they just had the wrong guy behind the camera. At this point, do you really want a disinterested Affleck sticking with an iteration of the character established in such a poorly conceived/received universe? Just for the sake of continuity? I thought Affleck did a better-than-decent job, but I just never connected with that version because of how he was introduced, how little we knew about him, what little time we spent with him, etc.

At this point we've had...

- 6 Bonds (Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig)

- 6 Batmans (Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck)

- 7 Supermans (George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, Tyler Hoechlin)

- 4 Hulks (Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno (counting them as one), Eric Bana, Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo)

- 4 Spider-Mans (Nicholas Hammond, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland)

Comparatively, the total number and the turnover rate doesn't seem that out of the ordinary. This is just how Hollywood works (and has always worked). What's the harm in another Batman come 2020, especially if they can finally nail the "definitive" version as Render mentioned above, which all signs point to this being?

Living Legend said:

---

What are you hearing on possible casting?

---

Nothing concrete at all. No one even knows the exact age range yet. I bet we start hearing names by February or so, though...

No offense, but I'm misunderstanding you because your initial post was extremely vague, and then your next two post were just straight up confusing...

Quote:

---

every time there is a new bond do we have to completely rehash that character? NO.

---

Quote:

---

unfortunately, whenever a new actor is cast to play one of our beloved comic book heros, BOOM retell the entire story with a new twist.

---

Quote:

---

why bond works is because no matter what, every actor playing him has a new arc.

---

Quote:

---

maybe my complaint is not with the number of actors that are involved but how GD unoriginal the reiterations are

---

So you want new arcs but not new twists? But then your next post is complaining about how unoriginal each iteration is, implying you actually do want new twists? And on top of all this, you haven't even seen the Affleck version of the character? You've completely lost me, and if you haven't even seen the latest iteration, frankly, your complaints make even less sense, given that fact.

Ok, that explanation helps. But what does "original," "completely new," and "refreshing" mean to you in terms of Batman or any of these other characters? What does an "original" Batman mean? Like, he has a green suit now and only his mom died? Or same character, just a fresh take (which, by all accounts, this new version seems to be)? Also, Man of Steel felt EXTREMELY different to me than Superman Returns. Tom Holland's Spider-Man is WAY different than Maguire's or Garfield's Spider-Man. It seems like these new version ARE doing what you're wanting. They're making them "completely new" and "refreshing." So I just don't get what you're looking for?

Was typing my last post as you replied, so I get that part, I guess.

I wasn't being obtuse. I was giving an extreme example to try and gauge your level of desired originality. In other words, did you want them to reinvent the characters or just tell a new story? I think I get what you're saying, though. And don't get me wrong, I don't like half of the movies we're talking about either. So we're on the same page there.

I just have one last question... is there a reason you don't use capital letters at the beginning of sentences? Or *complete* sentences, for that matter? Ha, it's literally like reading your stream of conscious thoughts, which only adds to the confusion.

Deal. I pay like $13 on average, but $3 sounds amazing. I'm in.