Ben Affleck has been sending SOS signals with his eyes pretty much from the moment he agreed to become WB's new Batman, and his professional and personal life have fallen apart ever since, effectively erasing the near decade of hard work he put in to rehabbing his image and career through Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo. Instead, he has again become a cultural punchline and frequent star of salacious tabloid stories about his extramarital affairs and ongoing bout with alcoholism. The best you could say about him is that his performance as Batman isn't all that bad (even if stuck playing the character in Zack Snyder movies), and The Accountant appears to be getting a sequel. However, Affleck's had the look of a man who's wanted out of the superhero game for some time now.
It is thus with no sense of surprise whatsoever that I pass along THR's report that Affleck's future as Batman is currently up in the air:
A source with knowledge of the situation says that the studio is working on plans to usher out Affleck's Batman - gracefully, addressing the change in some shape or form in one of the upcoming DC films. Exactly when and how that might happen has yet to be determined, but it would be wise to bet against Affleck starring in The Batman.
Oh, The Batman? You mean that movie Affleck was originally going to direct (before dropping out and being replaced by Matt Reeves) and write (before Reeves decided to ignore Affleck and Geoff Johns' script in favor of simply starting from scratch and plotting out an entire trilogy)? Now he might not even star in it? Shocking [sarcasm intended].
After Batman v Superman came out, there was considerable pressure on WB to fast-track The Batman and give us the solo Batman movie Affleck and Jeremy Irons (his Alfred) deserved. Instead, Affleck continually dragged his feet, plugging away at a script which never seemed to come together to anyone's satisfaction. A charitable reading of the situation applauded Affleck's efforts to wait until his script was ready rather than rushing into something and hoping for the best (because that worked out so well for BvS and Suicide Squad).
However, Affleck's intransigence coupled with his crumbling personal life painted a picture of a man in turmoil and possibly looking for any way out of the mess he'd gotten himself into, focusing on improving Justice League on the fly throughout production while also gradually dropping out of project after project to lighten his workload for the foreseeable future.
And now WB is figuring out how to let him go, exploring whether or not to simply kill him off and replace him with another actor (playing Dick Grayson or any of the other characters who've temporarily become Batman in the comics) or recast the role. It's a move Affleck might have desired from the moment he turned into a "Sound of Silence" internet meme, but it's one WB might not have toyed with before Spider-Man: Homecoming proved you can reboot these marquee characters at an historic pace and not be punished for it at the box office.
Really, after Daredevil Affleck should have known better, but the biggest compliment to him is that if this hasty departure does come to pass it will leave us wanting more because there is a good Batman movie to be made with him. Perhaps he'll stick around long enough to do a handoffto a Dick Grayson or Terry McGinnis. Or maybe WB will squash this news at SDCC this weekend. What do you hope happens? Let me know in the comments.
