Ben Affleck's The Batman Reportedly Would Have Gone Inside Arkham Asylum

We're gradually inching closer to DC's The Batman movie becoming a reality, now that Matt Reeves is on to write and direct and Robert Pattinson is set to star. Before we got to that point, former Batman Ben Affleck was set to helm the film, and now we have new insight into what it would have covered. Robert Richardson, who was at one point set to serve as cinematographer for Affleck's version of the film, recently spoke about it in an interview on the HappySadConfused podcast. As Richardson revealed, the goal was to have at least part of the film take place inside Arkham Asylum, which would have presumably put Affleck's Batman toe-to-toe with some pretty major baddies.

"I wanted to shoot Batman with Ben [Affleck] cause that was the next film we had. There was a script, but not a loved script. There was a lot of work he was doing to it to change it." Richardson revealed. "He was going into the more insanity aspects... He was entering more into the Arkham, he's going into where everyone was bad."

When it was mentioned that Arkham hasn't really been portrayed to its fullest in a movie before, Richardson agreed.

"No, and that's where we were going." Richardson added. "I was very interested in that one."

While Reeves' iteration of The Batman seems to have no shortage of villains and antagonists, the notion that Affleck's movie would have potentially had an asylum full of baddies is certainly interesting. Unfortunately, Affleck's version of the film was eventually put on hold, in part because the actor felt he couldn't quite "crack it".

"We worked on the script, I was trying to figure out how to crack it, and I was never happy enough with it where I thought it was worth going out and making it because I just didn't want to do a version that I wasn't really excited by, so I still don't know," Affleck said in April of this year.

Even though he may have officially hung up his cowl, it sounds like Affleck wouldn't be opposed to directing another entry in the DC Films world, if the right opportunity presented itself.

"I imagine it would be weird to step in and do another character. I can certainly imagine directing a movie, you know — if they [DC] would have me — if it was something I was passionate about," Affleck explained earlier this year. "It's not about like kind of closing doors on stuff, I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to do that one [next Batman film], so it became time to let someone else take a crack at it."

What do you think of these new details surrounding Ben Affleck's The Batman? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Upcoming DC movies include Joker on October 10th, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.