The Batman - Solo Batfleck Film (Release: 25 June 2021)

[ExistenceNow]

Afleck directing is the only thing that has me interested in this movie. I hope he does pull out if it doesn't come together properly, or the script sucks.

[ExistenceNow]

I don't get the hate for Suicide Squad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't dreadful. I liked it way more than awful BvS.

[TwoStep2888]

I still haven't seen SS, I had funeral stuff when it came out and never got around to it after that

[BotheLaneFan]

Affleck is an amazing Batman. He should have been in charge from the beginning instead of stupid Zach Snyder.

[DeuceStep]

Suicide Squad was terrible because it was hyped to be one thing, then reshot/recut making it entirely different, which was probably at least okay before they sliced and diced it.

It ended up being campy and cheesy. Awful music to go with whatever they shot to make it fun.

Best Jokers
1. Heath Ledger
2. Jack Nicholson
3. Mark Hamill
4. Cesar Romero
5. - 99. Jokers that have never been cast or written yet
100. Jared Leto

[Jake]

I hope this one features Deathstroke as the main villain and not a side-villain; and I hope Deathstroke's mom's name is Martha

[chadizzy1]

"Ben Affleck Steps Down as Director of The Batman"
http://comicbook.com/2017/01/31/ben-...of-the-batman/

"There are certain characters who hold a special place in the hearts of millions,” Affleck said in a statement. “Performing this role demands focus, passion and the very best performance I can give. It has become clear that I cannot do both jobs to the level they require. Together with the studio, I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film. I am still in this, and we are making it, but we are currently looking for a director. I remain extremely committed to this project, and look forward to bringing this to life for fans around the world.”


The filmmaker had recently made some comments suggesting that he was reluctant to direct the film while also starring, indicating that he hoped to get a more comfortable costume to work in, and that he understood the scope of the project.

“Warner Bros. fully supports Ben Affleck’s decision and remains committed to working with him to bring a standalone Batman picture to life,” the studio said a statement."

[M. Steng]

Fuckkkkkkkkkkkk

[chadizzy1]

Kevin Smith should direct it.

https://www.change.org/p/warner-brot...ew-batman-film

I think someone started a petition to make it happen. I don't know who...

[fridge112887]

I'm sure that Christopher Nolan guy has some time on his hands

Edit: apparently Matt Reeves is on the short list

[TwoStep2888]

Originally Posted by chadizzy1

"Ben Affleck Steps Down as Director of The Batman"
http://comicbook.com/2017/01/31/ben-...of-the-batman/

"There are certain characters who hold a special place in the hearts of millions,” Affleck said in a statement. “Performing this role demands focus, passion and the very best performance I can give. It has become clear that I cannot do both jobs to the level they require. Together with the studio, I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film. I am still in this, and we are making it, but we are currently looking for a director. I remain extremely committed to this project, and look forward to bringing this to life for fans around the world.”


The filmmaker had recently made some comments suggesting that he was reluctant to direct the film while also starring, indicating that he hoped to get a more comfortable costume to work in, and that he understood the scope of the project.

“Warner Bros. fully supports Ben Affleck’s decision and remains committed to working with him to bring a standalone Batman picture to life,” the studio said a statement."

damn, that's too bad

[junior94]

I know it's probably got zero chance of happening, but c'mon, how perfect an opportunity would this be for Fincher to step in...

[chadizzy1]

George Miller.
Frank Miller.
Guillermo del Toro.

[K270]

Originally Posted by fridge112887

I'm sure that Christopher Nolan guy has some time on his hands

Edit: apparently Matt Reeves is on the short list

Nolan had his time. Heres to hoping Nolan moves on and directs a couple of James Bond movies.

[jayman414]

While this certainly sucks, I think Affleck will still have a heavy hand in how the movie plays out. I'm still excited for this and cannot wait for some more information to come out.

[Jake]

he should've stayed on to direct and given the Bats role to someone else

[UCFish]

Man the behind the scenes turmoil for the DCEU will make a fantastic tell all one day.

Hopefully they find someone good to replace him....I like the Kevin Smith idea....even though I am sure there is no chance.

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by Jake

he should've stayed on to direct and given the Bats role to someone else

Obvious troll is obvious.

Fincher would be great. Also, sounds crazy, but it's clear to me that Batman is the character that Zack Snyder most wanted to direct when he signed on to make MoS. The Batman portions of BvS were also far and away the best. I think he could direct (not write) a great Batman film. Leave the writing to Ben and someone he trusts, put Zack behind the camera, keep Ben in the cape and cowl. Unfortunately ZS has too much negative publicity with his past few films being critically controversial so it likely wouldn't happen.

[KevinTH]

There was a lot of talk about Affleck waiting for the right script and story...I hope that his statement is real and not some contrived false sense of hope for fans to alleviate any worry that the movie might not pan out so well. My fear is that things aren't going well between he and the DC execs are not seeing eye to eye and so he threw his hands up, but is still contracted to play the character. That's my pessimist side. I also base that on the history of turmoil since DC started this whole thing. Writers getting dropped, directors dropping, the Suicide Squad nightmare...

My hopeful side is trusting in what Ben says in the above post and that, as Mike pointed out to me last night, his most recent movie that he directed and starred in did not fare well at all. Maybe he truly just isn't up for that pressure this time around and wants to devote himself to the role and not the directing duties. Which is fair enough. As long as he has a strong stake in what's going on behind the scenes I'm fine with it.

[KevinTH]

BvS was a strong effort in my opinion to break the mold of what we're used to seeing in superhero movies, and I love MoS. I know this is not the popular opinion, but if they stayed in the direction with some minor tweaks then I would be perfectly happy with the DC universe's future. Then Suicide Squad happened. I watched it again over the weekend and finally decided it's just a very bad movie. I can see there was promise there, as I really enjoyed the first 20-30 minutes, but then the second the action begins down in the subway the movie takes a giant leap off an enormous cliff. That movie coupled with the early rumors about Wonder Woman being a mess (hoping it's more of the "BvS mess" - as in people said it was a mess but I totally disagree - rather than the "SS mess" - which was an actual mess), and the obvious rays of lighter tone that can already be seen in JL previews, I am really starting to get nervous about the direction we're headed. But we'll see.

[sheldonlevene]

Wasn't Batman solo originally supposed to come out in 2020?

I'm fairly annoyed with this development from the perspective of - let's just fast track a solo film based on the most successful aspect of our critically lauded financially successful JL setup (BvS). Clearly Affleck wanted to A) take his time and B) make sure it didn't suck.

[MOWJO8185]

DC just has no idea what they are doing.

[sheldonlevene]

Originally Posted by MOWJO8185

DC just has no idea what they are doing.

Unfortunately so.

[KevinTH]

Even as a DC fanboy, and lover/defender of MoS and BvS, I can admit that DC was just totally unprepared for all of this. It's so obvious that once they saw how well Marvel's movie and television universe were doing they jumped as fast as they could to get the ball rolling once Nolan's trilogy was completed. Unfortunately they didn't have a good plan in place, and like them or not (I like them), Marvel did. It's my opinion they wanted so badly to follow the same idea of a multiverse, but at the same time not follow the exact template, resulting in a bit of chaos because they didn't know how to successfully differentiate themselves. For example, they are keeping the movie and TV universe separate. OK, that's alright, but I wish we got better shows. And now we're going to have two Flash characters? It also sucks because they wasted their opportunities of great television series on the CW and one on Fox, and now we have 5 lackluster cheesy teen dramas dressed up as superheroes.

The second they announced their plan for the movie universe in summer of 2013 I was a bit skeptical. Even though I ended up loving BvS, I was not a fan of introducing Batman in what was supposed to be a Superman sequel. I felt there was still more exploring to do of the Clark/Superman character and his relationships with those around him. Introducing a new take on Batman/Bruce Wayne felt too soon after having just wrapped up Nolan's trilogy and also still trying to get to know Clark. As I've had more time to think about it, I do think that BvS may have worked better as a third film after a second solo Superman outing, but I'm still happy with what we got. In my eyes it worked as a follow up and the fallout of the complaints with MoS had an interesting impact on the story of BvS. But all my feelings to the movies I enjoy aside, I'm still not blind to see that it seems like DC is still trying so hard to catch up to Marvel's success but seems to continue stumbling along the way. I also think they're trying to beat the clock. Superheroes will always be around, but at some point people WILL tire of all these movies and shows. I absolutely love the DC characters, but I really wish DC would just pause and get it together, but maybe with contracts and future plans already in place it's too late, so they just have to keep pushing through? I want so badly for the upcoming slate of movies to be great, and I think so far MoS and BvS were, but SS was terrible and all the behind the scenes stories about directors and writers dropping makes me really nervous. Again, even though I love how BvS turned out, I'm not a fan of the executives, directors and writers catering to the complaints of a bunch of whiny critics that can't handle a darker vision, or 40 minutes of intense action between two almost all-powerful beings. I think Suicide Squad was supposed to be a very different movie, but because the executives balked at the critical pan of BvS they decided they needed to lighten everything up to appease the critics. Lame. Just makes me skeptical of where things are headed with DC's movie future.

[chadizzy1]

Originally Posted by MOWJO8185

DC just has no idea what they are doing.

I'm the biggest DC in this thread, but I agree.

Marvel is doing it right. This is the main reason: they do have separate TV and movie universes, but aren't casting separate characters in the same role in the two different universes. Their movie and TV universes support each other in that movie characters (Fury in AoS, Coulson in AoS) pop up in the TV universe, and TV universe characters can pop up in the movie universe (rumors that the Defenders could pop up in the new Avengers films). That's the right way to do it.

DC should have done that.

First, I would have pulled these characters from each universe to form the Justice League.

TV Universe:
Grant Gustin - Flash
Stephen Amell - Arrow
Melissa Benoist - Supergirl
David Harewood - Martian Manhunter
Brandon Routh - The Atom

Movie Universe
Henry Cavill - Superman
Ben Affleck - Batman
Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman
Jason Momoa - Aquaman
Ray Fisher - Cyborg
Not Cast - Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
Not Cast - Green Lantern (John Stewart)

Here's how I would have done the films:

Do standalone movies to introduce Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern (whichever actors they cast). Cyborg doesn't need a standalone movie to introduce him, he could be a plot point in another movie to be introduced or on one of the TV shows like Supergirl. We don't need a standalone Flash movie, the TV universe is enough backstory. I liked the TV universe Superman, but he wasn't needed. She carries the show just fine on her own.

I would have done the movie schedule like this:

2015 (Early) - Man of Steel
2015 (Late) - The Batman
2016 (Early) - Batman V Superman
2016 (Late) - Wonder Woman
2017 (Early) - Aquaman
2017 (Late) - Green Lantern Corps
2018 (Summer) - Justice League Part 1
2019 (Summer) - Justice League Part 2

[M. Steng]

Stephen Amell belongs nowhere near a big screen. Dude has the charisma of a 2x4. Which is totally wrong for Green Arrow.

Also, at some point all the comingling and crossovers becomes a burden to keep up with. They should have just had a cogent, clear plan in place from the beginning to set up Justice League with the original 7 members (Superman, Batman, WW, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter). Adding auxiliary characters for universe building would be fine (Green Arrow is the green guy with the bow. Mainstream audiences can pick up that just fine, like Hawkeye in Avengers; Cyborg is the techy weird robot Iron Man guy that controls things from the Watchtower, cool).

I don't hate your schedule, Chad, but DC was in the very unenviable position from the start in that they would have been ridiculed whether they followed the Marvel formula (which your plan follows) or tried something different. So they chose option #2 and tried to do it a different way. Hindsight is 20/20, but there's no reason that kicking off a shared universe the way they did, rather than the Marvel way, couldn't work on paper.

[fridge112887]

Does this mean we'll get a different script or are they sticking with what Affleck had doodled up?

I jokingly had suggested Nolan but it would be interesting (at least to me) to see him take this on and insert Joker again

Edit: more names that have been added to the rumor list: Gavin O'Connor, Denis Villeneuve, Matt Ross, and George Miller (who gets my early vote)

[sheldonlevene]

The script question is a good one Fridge. He has time and time again mentioned, "if the script isn't right, if we can't nail it down, if I'm not happy, etc. - I won't do it."

It could be that "won't do it" relates only to directing and he'll star in a film that he doesn't think HIS script was good enough in. I don't know though.

[fridge112887]

Originally Posted by sheldonlevene

The script question is a good one Fridge. He has time and time again mentioned, "if the script isn't right, if we can't nail it down, if I'm not happy, etc. - I won't do it."

It could be that "won't do it" relates only to directing and he'll star in a film that he doesn't think HIS script was good enough in. I don't know though.

Maaaaaaaaaan. As much of a DC fanboy as I am, I will admit, I'm starting to get concerned

[sheldonlevene]

I tend to think he'll still produce and write and it's just too much to direct in the cape and cowl. I can see that for sure.

The continued use of those phrases though did give me pause though...I'll admit.