Fanboys Anonymous

Several days ago we posted an article detailing a rumored release schedule for Warner Bros.' DC Comics films, beginning with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 and ending with Man of Steel 2 in 2018. In between were films setting up the larger Justice League franchise, Wonder Woman, and a few other heroes. Some sites (like ours) noticed a missing piece in that puzzle: no new Batman franchise. Well, we might have an answer now. Rumor is that a new franchise will begin in 2019 with a film simply entitled, The Batman.


While Ben Affleck will be playing the Dark Knight in the shared universe WB/DC is attempting to build, acting is almost his second job, these days. After disappearing for a few years, he turned to directing and made a splash with his debut feature, Gone Baby Gone. His second feature, The Town, did respectably and his third feature, Argo, went and won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2012. He's in a position to do just about anything he wants, so it looks like he's decided to have his cake and eat it, too. Clearly, he has a good working relationship with the folks at Warner Bros., who distributed his last two films (again, including a Best Picture winner) and who have since hired him to play one of their most lucrative characters.

The delay on a solo Batman film until 2019 is due to Warner Bros. letting Affleck have some latitude as a director as well — his next film, Live by Night, is slated to drop in October 2016, just a few months after Batman v Superman drops in May. Theoretically, after he finishes filming Batman v Superman, he'll go to work on Live by Night, which should be in post-production around the time Justice League heats up. Once that's done, he'll be set to step back into all of Bruce Wayne's suits.

Slashfilm suggests The Batman could also be open for Affleck to direct as his Live by Night follow-up, which I think is a smart call. Affleck has been bitten by the directing bug, and from what I've seen it's something he's good at. Putting him in near-total charge of what is, again, a hugely important franchise for Warner Bros. could be a risky move, but it could also be a chance for a creator to really spread his cape and do something tremendous. It would have to be, following in the footsteps of Christopher Nolan's already legendary take on the Caped Crusader.

What do you think? Are we pro- or anti-Batfleck, at this point? Is it as bad an idea to have him direct a DC film like Batman as it was to cast him as the Bat, or are you hopeful he can pull this off? I'm hopeful. Disagree with me. Go on. Leave it all in the comments below.