Ben Affleck Shoots Down Rumors of DCEU Exit: ‘Batman Is the Coolest F—ing Part in Any Universe’
Just one day before he was scheduled to appear at Comic-Con, a new report revealed that Ben Affleck’s days as Batman are seemingly numbered, with sources close to the situation suggesting that this fall’s Justice League may very well be the actor’s final appearance in the DCEU. But during today’s Warner Bros. panel in Hall H, Affleck swiftly shot down rumors of his departure, imminent or otherwise, as he reassured the crowd that he’s still very committed to playing the Caped Crusader.
Affleck joined his Justice League co-stars Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa for the Warner Bros. DCEU panel at Comic-Con. It seemed inevitable that Affleck would address his heavily-rumored exit from the role of Batman, which, according to yesterday’s report from THR, is happening sooner rather than later. At least one source with knowledge of the situation told the trade that WB is giving Affleck a “graceful” exit that will be addressed in an upcoming film.
Affleck’s departure would make sense, though. He’s never seemed all that thrilled about the DCEU (the Batman doth protest too much), and he was rather resistant to WB announcing him as the director of the new solo movie back at Cinema-Con. Reeves has reportedly envisioned a new trilogy for Batman, one that might not gel with Zack Snyder’s vision of the character.
With Snyder’s recent departure from post-production on Justice League and Joss Whedon overseeing (reportedly) extensive reshoots, the DCEU is undergoing a bit of a creative shift — surely WB has learned from the massive success of Wonder Woman and the critical pans of Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman.
It’s still entirely plausible (and perhaps even likely) that Ben Affleck is leaving the DCEU. You may recall that Lucasfilm didn’t publicly reveal Josh Trank’s firing from the Star Wars spinoff until after that year’s Celebration event, during which the studio continued to act as if Trank was still involved. It’s highly unlikely that WB and / or Affleck would choose Comic-Con to announce his departure from the DCEU; not only would it distract from the general atmosphere of excitement in Hall H, but it would invite wayyyyy too many questions.
Is Ben Affleck still Batman? I’ll believe it when I see it.