Why Ben Affleck’s Batman Comment Gives Snyderverse Fans New Hope

Ben Affleck’s time as Batman seems to have ended on an official level, but a recent off-hand comment by Affleck himself indicates that he isn’t writing off ever donning the cowl again. Affleck debuted as the Dark Knight in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, but while Snyder had mapped out an epic story for the DCEU and specifically for Affleck’s Batman, infamous behind-the-scenes difficulties and some other external factors led to Affleck’s departure from the role. That has certainly been a letdown for many fans given the role Affleck’s Batman was to play in Snyder’s two-planned Justice League sequels, along with Affleck’s unmade Batman solo movie, which sounds like an incredible Batman film indeed, thanks to info revealed by storyboard artist Jay Oliva. However, despite the impending beginning of James Gunn’s new DCU, formally launching with Gunn’s Superman movie, it seems Affleck returning as Batman may not be as impossible as it previously seemed.

While promoting the action film The Accountant 2 at the movie’s premiere, Affleck was asked on the red carpet if there was any possibility he might portray Batman again in the future, to which Affleck responded, “Hey, you know, anything’s possible”. To be sure, it was a quick exchange and certainly not official confirmation of Affleck re-entering the Batcave in the immediate future. Nonetheless, the openness of Affleck’s comment stands completely at odds with previous statements Affleck has made declaring his official retirement from superhero movies. Naturally, Affleck declaring “anything’s possible” on a hypothetical Batman comeback has pushed the ever-present #RestoreTheSnyderVerse debate into overdrive once more. While Affleck apparently being at least somewhat open to returning as Batman has given a major shot of hope and energy to the fans pushing for the completion of Snyder’s intended Justice League story, it is also important to place Affleck’s comments in the context of his overall tenure as Batman – and crucially, this shows how specific the reasons for his initial departure were.

Affleck Entered His Batman Tenure With Great Excitement

One thing that’s important to bear in mind when discussing the status of Affleck’s retirement or resumption of portraying Batman is that the rollercoaster it ended up being largely comes down to numerous external factors. At the time, Affleck had previously expressed disinterest in superhero movies on multiple occasions and had sworn off playing any again after his dissatisfaction with 2003’s Daredevil, with Affleck stating in 2006 that he believed that “I have inoculated myself from ever playing another superhero” and described the movie as “a source of humiliation for me and something I wouldn’t want to do again soon”. Needless to say, Affleck subsequently boarding Batman v Superman as the Dark Knight was a complete about face from that seemingly set in stone stance.

Affleck entered the Batman role with tremendous enthusiasm, having been sold by Snyder on the idea of an older, grizzled Batman inspired by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns as an all-new cinematic portrayal of the character. Affleck was also sold on the finite nature of Snyder’s DCEU story, being mapped out over a planned five-movie arc to culminate in Batman sacrificing his life in the final battle against Darkseid in Justice League 3. With an arc that consisted of Batman v Superman, a solo Batman movie, a Justice League trilogy, a handful of cameos, and a heroic sacrifice to put a bow on it all, it’s easy to understand that Affleck set aside his initial hesitance to return to superhero movies all thanks to the right pitch from Snyder and the promise of a different situation from what Daredevil ended up being. Then came the highly polarized response to Batman v Superman and Warner Bros.’ subsequent panic.

RELATED: Ben Affleck Confirms What Makes Zack Snyder’s Justice League So Special to Fans

Affleck’s Batman Departure (& Return) Came Down To Very Specific Circumstances

The point at which Affleck began losing interest in Batman began right when Warner Bros. started getting cold feet about Snyder’s plans for the DCEU, the very plans that had convinced Affleck to come aboard in the first place. From the outset of principal photography on Justice League, Snyder was working with WB executives placed on set to effectively babysit the divisive director and steer the movie away from Batman v Superman levels of darkness (though even with this monitoring, Snyder nonetheless covertly shot the movie as he had intended). Despite Justice League‘s lighter tone compared to Batman v Superman, this still didn’t placate Warner Bros. fears, with the studio bringing aboard Joss Whedon to write new scenes and rework significant portions of Justice League. Snyder’s subsequent departure from Justice League in the aftermath of his daughter’s tragic death led to Warner Bros. putting the movie fully under Whedon’s control, leading to the infamous Justice League reshoots that warped the movie into an unrecognizable Frankenstein’s monster. This, of course, was hardly what Affleck had envisioned for his portrayal of Batman, nor was Whedon’s reported abusive conduct to the cast and crew on set.

In the midst of all of that, Affleck also dealt with struggles in his personal life, specifically his battle with alcoholism. With such a toxic stew of circumstances far removed from what he envisioned for his portrayal of the Dark Knight, it’s completely understandable that Affleck soured on the role and departed his Batman solo movie (which eventually morphed into the DCEU-independent The Batman under Matt Reeves) and the Batman role altogether. However, after the disastrous release of Justice League in 2017 and immediately emergent #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, things shifted yet again, with Affleck not only publicly supporting the release of Snyder’s version of the movie, but even donning the cowl again for the movie’s Knightmare epilogue, filmed in October 2020, just five months before the Snyder Cut’s release. With Affleck then returning for further Batman appearances in The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, he was looking far less done with the role than he’d initially seemed.

However, after the formation of DC Studios and the announcement of James Gunn’s plans, Affleck’s Batman return didn’t pan out as it seemed to be shaping up. So as not to conflict with Gunn’s plans, Affleck’s cameo from Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was removed from the movie prior to release, as was an end credits scene in The Flash which showed Affleck’s Batman lost in the multiverse and sending a transmission to Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen informing him of the situation. Though Gunn stated that Affleck was in talks to direct a DCU movie, Affleck himself subsequently debunked this, stating that he would “absolutely not” direct a movie in Gunn’s DC franchise, stating that he “wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way that they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that” in an interview with THR. All of that seemed to put the nail in the coffin on Affleck ever doing anything Batman-related again until his “anything’s possible” comment, and this all helps break down the context of Affleck’s comments and Batman situation in its totality

Has the World Really Seen the Last Of Ben Affleck’s Batman?

Affleck’s first departure from Batman came down to very understandable reasons between his personal struggles and the fact that it was fundamentally turning into the opposite of what he signed up for. With that said, on the question of whether Affleck might ever portray Batman again, it is worth looking back at Affleck’s Snyder Cut-era Batman cameos, specifically the Knightmare ending of Zack Snyder’s Justice League and his deleted end-credits multiverse cameo in The Flash. Far from being mere teases, both explicitly set up further stories with Affleck’s Batman unambiguously positioned as a key player. It is very much worth asking why Affleck would ever have agreed to film either scene if he had indeed definitively shut the door on portraying Batman ever again (or why he didn’t at least ask Snyder about removing Deathstroke’s meeting with Lex Luthor at the end of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the scene setting up Slade Wilson’s conflict with Bruce Wayne in Affleck’s Batman movie). The fact that Affleck made returns to portraying Batman of this nature suggests that he was, at a bare minimum, at least open to doing more with the role at the time, but things changed both times with WB’s then-management insisting no future projects would be spun out of the Snyder Cut and then with Gunn’s new direction with the DCU.

While Affleck’s comments on the misery of the Justice League situation paints a picture of an extremely toxic workplace environment he wanted no part of, his more recent comments on DC and superhero movies more generally as a future prospect suggest more of a “Thanks, but no thanks” disinterest in the specific style and approach of Gunn’s DCU. Surely, no DC fan or filmmaker would ask (or, for that matter, is asking) Affleck to return as Batman in a situation mirroring that of the personal and professional anguish he went through circa Justice League 2017. However, Affleck’s aforementioned cameos in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Flash, and even Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom indicate that those circumstances were no longer present. The apparent shift towards general apathy on Affleck’s part towards the direction of DC on film effectively puts him back where he was after Daredevil. But what if Affleck’s “anything’s possible” criteria for returning were met with another similarly exciting pitch as the one he received from Snyder to portray Batman in the first place? And what if Snyder was the one to make it to him?

While such hypothetical scenarios are just that at the present moment, the fact of the matter is that Affleck’s Batman tenure and the Snyderverse generally are both shadows that DC has clearly failed to get out from under. Both Gunn and Snyder themselves provided an acknowledgement to that end with the duo’s viral picture together in DC Studios, and while Gunn denies that any #RestoreTheSnyderVerse or general DC movie talk took place between the two directors, there’s no denying that both Gunn and Snyder were fully aware their picture together would inspire widespread speculation of Snyder returning to DC, and cement the fact that the Snyderverse will never die. With that in mind, it’s probably fairest to contextualize Affleck returning as Batman in much the same way as Snyder returning to DC, in that both had a specific vision in mind and either returning would could only happen in the event that they were promised the chance to finish what they set out to do without the micromanagement and toxic circumstances that drove them away.

It should be emphasized that getting the band back together for the completion of Snyder’s Justice League would be quite a complex task, especially with the beginning of Gunn’s DCU right around the corner. With that said, the fact that talk of Affleck hypothetically returning as Batman in the future and the implications of Snyder’s friendly photo with Gunn are so prominent even with Gunn’s Superman on the horizon is proof all on its own of just how borderline impossible moving on from the Snyderverse has been for WB and DC. Even Kevin Smith thinks an Affleck Batman return isn’t out of the question, and the history of the Snyder Cut eternally stands as a reminder to never truly rule anything connected to it. Because in Hollywood, and certainly in the Snyderverse, anything’s possible.

Affleck’s Batman appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and The Flash are all available to stream on Max.