Matt Reeves Confirms Ben Affleck Is Still His Batman

Right now, DC Entertainment has plenty on its plate with Justice League, but the studio is trying to perfect its multi-tasking game. Filming is underway on Aquaman over in Australia, and development is now beginning on The Batman. The latter film’s director just confirmed his team is now starting on the Gotham hero’s standalone, and Matt Reeves is promising Ben Affleck is his Batman.

Thanks to Batman-News, fans have learned previous rumors circulating about Affleck’s exit from the superhero role were just that. The site spoke with Reeves on the red carpet of War for the Planet of the Apes in London recently, and the director confirmed Affleck is the Batman he’s working with.

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“Yeah,” Reeves said. “Right now, that’s what is going on. For sure.”

Continuing, the director said work has only just started on The Batman now that his Apes commitment is done. “We’re just beginning the whole thing. Literally, I just finished this movie about 8 days [ago], so we’re only now beginning.”

ComicBook also had a chance to speak with Reeves during his recent press tour, and our own Brandon Davis got some much-wanted details about The Batman. The director told ComicBook he really wants his DC movie to have a personal take on Bruce Wayne.

“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 explained.

“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.”

For fans, it is reassuring to hear Reeves talk about his vision for The Batman. News about the film has been slow-coming since the stunning announcement of Affleck’s directorial leave. When the Batman star chose to step out of the director’s chair, fans feared Affleck was attempting to distance himself from the hero ntirely; However, according to Reeves, that is just simply not the case. Affleck is still tied in with the Wayne family for the time being, and DC Entertainment plans to give the character a solo film worthy of the praise Wonder Woman received earlier this month.

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In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder, from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on a story by Snyder and Terrio, and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons, and Ciarán Hinds.