'The Batman' Director Rumored to Want Jake Gyllenhaal if Ben Affleck Exits

After Justice League, the future of Ben Affleck's Batman is looming question hanging over the DC Films Universe. Despite Affleck's impassioned declarations of love for playing Batman while on stage at San Diego Comic Con 2017, there's been growing evidence that the actor will soon be walking away from the role.

Now we may know who Affleck's replacement could be in Matt Reeves new movie: Jake Gyllenhaal.

John Campea dropped the rumor on his John Campea Show on YouTube, as part of his report on how Affleck has been done with Batman since all the way back in February, when rumors of the star's departure started to circulate.

As for how Gyllenhaal would be brought in: According to Campea, there are two options being considered:

1. To set Matt Reeves' Batman movie outside of the DCEU shared universe (as another one of DC Films' standalone movies, like upcoming Joker origin film).
2. To set events of The Batman earlier on in Batman's career, before the events of Batman v Superman.

As is pointed out in the report, Gyllenhaal is about to turn 37 in December. Compared to Ben Affleck's current age of 45, it's enough age gap to revisit an earlier point in Batman's twenty-year career before BvS and convincingly make the switch. In some ways, it would be easier than trying to use a similar approach with Affleck himself.

Nonetheless, this would still be a major juggling act for Warner Bros. and DC Films to pull off. It definitely helps that Gyllenhaal has been an actor on fans Batman wish-lists for quite some time. We'll see what develops after Justice League has had its theatrical run.

Do you think Jake Gyllenhaal would be a good Batman replacement? Let us know @ComicBook!

Justice League is now in theaters; Aquaman arrives on December 21, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Wonder Woman 2 on November 1st, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020.