Ben Affleck to direct a DCU movie, but which one???

Ben Affleck arguably played the best version of Batman, but he has wanted an out of the DCEU since Justice League. The whole BTS process of Justice League broke him down, and he succumbed to alcoholism. It didn’t allow him to finish his script for The Batman, but now that he is out of that phase and in a good space in life, he could return to directing a DC movie.

With Henry Cavill’s Superman out of the picture, James Gunn has seemingly confirmed that Affleck’s Batman and the other heroes will also get recast and rebooted. But one old face will most likely return, and that is Ben Affleck, even though he will be the man behind the camera.

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James Gunn confirms talks with Ben Affleck

James Gunn and Ben Affleck (Image via DC)

Besides announcing Henry Cavill’s departure and teasing a new DCU slate, James Gunn also confirmed two other things on Twitter. One of those was his conversation with Ben Affleck as he wrote:

“Met with Ben yesterday precisely because he wants to direct & we want him to direct; we just have to find the right project.”

This has to be good news for all DC fans. Ben Affleck initially agreed to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice because he wanted to learn how to direct a large-scale, big-budget movie.

Getting first-hand experience collaborating with Zack Snyder, he got the perfect know-how to direct his own Batman movie. While that wasn’t meant to be with him as Bruce Wayne, it could still happen in the rebooted DCU.

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Which DCU movie will Ben Affleck direct?

The Batman concept arts (Image via DC)

When asked by a fan, James Gunn recently confirmed that the DCU will also have a rebooted Batman separate from Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s Batman. Gunn replied on Twitter,

“He’s a big part of the DCU.”

So, could we get a new Batman movie directed by Ben Affleck? We reckon that the DCU needs a quick start, and Ben Affleck’s half-written script could be finished sooner than any other project. So his movie could officially get into the pre-production stage in late 2023 or early 2024.

Michael Douglas in The Game

The Batman would have had “similarities to The Game,” according to former Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello. To elaborate further, David Fincher’s 1997 cult favorite, The Game, saw Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) receiving a voucher for a certain game that led to him losing everything overnight.

A so-called “game” was arranged by a shadowy organization which led to Orton falling into all sorts of trouble. Similarly, Deathstroke would have acted as this shadowy organization playing a game with Batman, destroying his life and leading him on a wild goose chase.

Deathstroke in Justice League (Image via DC)

While speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, Manganiello mentioned the kind of story Affleck was going for:

“It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out. It was this systemic thing: He killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him.”

This storyline was certainly intriguing for many fans as it would have gone on to take further inspiration from Frank Miller’s classic run on Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again. After Bruce’s life would have been destroyed by Slade, he would have learned to pick himself up from an eternal abyss.

Ben Affleck in Justice League (Image via DC)

Affleck could do this story with a new Batman and Deathstroke. But many would argue that since Matt Reeves’ Batman is taking centerstage, a separate Batman movie would be just one too many. So maybe, Gunn and Affleck could come up with some other project. After all, Gunn also stated that he’d focus on the major characters and some minor unknown characters.