Ben Affleck Officially Confirms He’s Retired as Batman

After the bitter ending to Ben Affleck‘s career as a superhero in Justice League, the actor is ready to move on from Batman.

Affleck appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new Netflix film Triple Frontier, and he finally spoke out on his decision to leave the cape and cowl behind as writer/director Matt Reeves prepares for The Batman.

“Yeah, I am. I have decided — I tried to direct a version of it, worked with a really good screenwriter, but couldn’t come up with a version,” Affleck told Kimmel. “Couldn’t crack it. So I thought it was time to let someone else take a shot at it, and they got some really good people.”

Kimmel then surprised Affleck with a retirement ceremony, revealing they were going to hang his costume up in the rafters.

“Warner Bros. has given us something, and we’re going to officially retire your bat cape in the rafters. That is your official cowl and cape,” Kimmel said, introducing his sidekick Guillermo wearing the Robin costume, holding the cape with a new modification: the number of New England Patriots quarterback and Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, #12, fixed on the cape.

Affleck joked the number was there the entire time and Warner Bros. paid $80 million to digitally remove it. As the cape and cowl were hoisted to the rafters, Affleck delivered a twist on the iconic line: “I’m not Batman.”

When the news came out that Reeves’ The Batman would be released in 2021, Affleck quickly took to social media to cheer on the franchise newcomer and his new take on the superhero.

“Excited for The Batman in Summer 2021 and to see Matt Reeves’ vision come to life,” Affleck wrote on Twitter.

Reeves himself spoke about the project and what he wants it to be, teasing that it will be unlike any other DC Comics-based superhero meeting at Warner Bros.

“What it will be called ultimately, I don’t know,” he said. “Aquaman is going to be very different from the Todd Phillips Joker movie, and that’s going to be different from Shazam and Harley Quinn. Warners believes they don’t have to try to develop a giant slate that has to have all the plans for how it’s going to connect. What they need to try and do is make good movies with these characters.”

The Batman is currently scheduled to premiere in theaters on June 25, 2021.

Affleck’s film Triple Frontier premieres on Netflix on March 13th.