Ben Affleck’s Batman Return For Aquaman 2, Explained

New details about Ben Affleck’s Batman return in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have surfaced. Last week, Jason Momoa took to Instagram to announce his Justice League co-star will don the cape and cowl again in the Aquaman sequel ahead of Affleck’s return opposite Ezra Miller in The Flash. That film, which explores the DC multiverse and will also star Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight of another universe, was supposed to lead to Keaton replacing Affleck as the main Batman of the shared DC Extended Universe. Instead, Momoa appeared to confirm it would be the other way around: it would be Batfleck who makes waves in Aquaman 2, not Keaton’s Batman. 

Along with his “key role” in The Flash, Keaton was to appear in Batgirl before that movie was shelved permanently at Warner Bros. Discovery. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Keaton filmed a scene for Aquaman 2 that test audiences found “confusing” because it was “unclear” how or why Keaton’s Batman was in the DCEU. 

James Wan’s Aquaman sequel is dated to open on March 17, 2023, before the June 23, 2023 release of the Andy Muschietti-directed The Flash, which would explain Keaton’s return and his crossover from the retired Burtonverse into the mainline DCEU. 

That universe is unconnected to filmmaker Tim Burton’s pair of Batman movies starring Keaton; the DCEU is the current canon continuity where Affleck starred as the rebooted character in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. 

Read More: Details About Michael Keaton’s Batman Role in Shelved Batgirl Movie 

With Batgirl canceled and Keaton’s Aquaman 2 cameo apparently scrapped, he now returns to the Batman role in The Flash. In 2020, THR reported Keaton was suiting up as Batman in multiple projects, playing a “mentor or guide or even string-puller” compared to Nick Fury of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the statesman figure portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson. 

Affleck announced his Batman retirement in 2019 after having the “worst experience” on 2017’s Justice League, the theatrical version of Snyder’s superhero ensemble that was reshot and completed by Joss Whedon after the visionary Man of Steel director stepped away amid a family tragedy. 

Earlier this year, the 49-year-old actor referred to The Flash as “a really nice finish on my experience with that character.” But like the Speed Force, Affleck’s Batman future post-Aquaman and Flash appears to be in flux.  

Upcoming DC Films include Black Adam (October 21, 2022), Shazam! Fury of the Gods (December 21, 2022), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (March 17, 2023), The Flash (June 23, 2023), Blue Beetle (August 18, 2023), and Joker: Folie à Deux (October 4, 2024).