Joe Manganiello Weighs In On Ben Affleck’s Batman Script

The Batman solo film won’t be directed by Ben Affleck, but there was a script already written, and Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello confirms that fans would have loved it.

Manganiello weighed in after storyboard artist and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns director Jay Oliva defended Affleck’s script to Batman on Film’s Bill Ramey on twitter. The original comment took issue with Affleck not having a story for the film, but Oliva disagrees.

“Hi Bill! The original Affleck script was the best Batman script I’ve ever read,” Oliva said. “Ben had a kick ass story and I believe that the audience and fans would have loved it.”

Manganiello agreed, posting “✔️” in reply to Oliva’s description.

While we don’t know all the details on the original script, previous rumors indicated it was inspired by The Game and featured Deathstroke attempting to take down Batman by setting numerous traps for him and whittling him down in service to the Legion of Doom.

Since then though Matt Reeves has taken on the project as director, and while Affleck is still attached as a producer and star, there has been some doubt that he will end up playing the character going forward. Reeves has been good about avoiding answering that question directly, but regardless of does start in the role he is excited to be working in the Batman universe.

“From the beginning, what I had always spoken about with Warner Brothers and what I was excited about was being in the Batuniverse and really doing something within that sphere,” Reeves told press at the TCA press tour. “That was always what it was going to be so in that way it hasn’t changed a lot since I first met with them. It’s very much the same thrust if that makes sense.

It seems a draft of the script is just about finished, but when the process began Reeves was fully intent on exploring the character in a more personal way.

“Look, I’m just starting Batman because literally, [War for the Planet of the Apes], as I just said, we finished about a week ago and now we’re publicizing it,” Reeves told ComicBook.com. “So, we haven’t even begun on Batman. For me, what’s always important is to try and find a personal way in. In that way, I do feel like I relate to actors. It’s about understanding emotionally, the way something is. I see this parallel between Caesar and Batman, really, which is this idea of these characters who are grappling with their own struggle and trying to do the right thing in an imperfect world and, so, I do really relate it to that kind of idea.”

The Batman currently has no release date.