One Dark Knight: What was Ben Affleck’s Batman Movie About?

Recent comments about Ben Affleck's Batman movie have raised interest around the project with fans. What was his now mythic Batman about?

Ben Affleck’s Batman movie has been a subject of interest recently, following comments from storyboard artist and animation director Jay Olivia and the slow-motion implosion of James Gunn’s DC tenure after another box office disaster in Blue Beetle. Affleck’s standalone Batman was set to feature Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, as the central villain. On August 2 this year, in an exclusive with Inverse, Olivia described the script by Ben Affleck and Chris Terrio (Argo, Zack Snyder’s Justice League) as one of the best Batman stories he has ever read. Olivia went into further detail saying, “Ben's story was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics but was building off of storylines in the Batman mythos over the last 80 years and approaching it from a new kind of perspective.”

Olivia’s comments reignited fan interest on social media and calls to “make the Batfleck movie.” Fans have organized to boycott DC films following the choice of James Gunn and Peter Safran at Warner Bros. to reboot the DC without finishing the story that was built for the last 10 years. The wheels are falling off the DCU reboot before everyone’s eyes. The idea of the reboot was allegedly to help pitch the sale of WB to interested buyers, but it has turned the general audience and hardcore fans against DC. Whichever company ends up purchasing WB, they are not going to want to continue with Gunn and Safran leading the DCU after they have gone to war with DC fans this year and lost (hundreds of millions of dollars in box office revenue).

Affleck spoke about his Batman movie at SnyderCon in April this year. Affleck was reluctant to give details when responding to a question about Deathstroke. Affleck said, "There were a number of them (villains) that I was kind of exploring. And, the plans were to make interesting, nuanced, complex characters, in particular to the character you mentioned (Deathstroke)... So I was at the time really trying to hone in and focus on that character and get into depth and detail about it to make him seem as impressive as I felt there was the opportunity to do. That's the only detail I have for you." Affleck’s intent to keep quiet on the plot sounds like he has not given up hope that his movie will get made in the future, under new leadership at DC.

The History of Batfleck

In 2015, it was announced that Ben Affleck was cast as Batman in Batman v Superman. In 2016, Warner Bros. announced that Affleck would be writing, directing, and starring in a solo Batman movie. When Batman v Superman was released in theaters in 2016, the box office climbed to $872 million globally. Despite the strong box office for their second film in the DCEU, Warner Bros, convinced by critics of both Man of Steel and BvS, stepped in and began meddling in the DC movies, removing the setup for Justice League from Suicide Squad, and then reshooting Justice League with the director of Avengers, Joss Whedon.

The re-shoot with Whedon was described by Affleck as the nadir point of his career. After the Justice League release, Affleck determined he no longer wanted to play Batman. The re-shoots of Justice League had led to heavy drinking for the actor. One could infer he did not want to fight Warner Bros. to release the story he had written and filmed, as Snyder and Ayer have (Ayer's cut of Suicide Squad has still not yet seen a release). In 2018, it was made public that Affleck was out as Batman.

Warner Bros. turned their attention toward Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and planned to recast Ben Affleck with Michael Keaton, using The Flash movie to move Keaton’s version of the Dark Knight to the Snyder continuity. Warner Bros. nearly filmed an entire Batgirl movie with Keaton replacing Affleck as Batman in the timeline. Then Warner Bros. underwent a merger, old leadership was on the way out, Batgirl was cancelled (erasing the movement of Keaton to the Snyder timeline), and Affleck returned for cameos in The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Next, Henry Cavill was back as Superman in an epilogue scene in Black Adam, and fans were finally going to get Affleck’s Batman movie and other sequels in the universe. And all at once, it was no more.

In December 2023, Cavill posted a statement on social media explaining that James Gunn and Peter Safran, who had recently assumed control of DC, were rebooting the DC movies. This meant that Cavill, Affleck, and Gal Gadot were out as the trinity. Once again, Affleck’s and Terrio’s Batman was put in the fridge. And there it remains, safely preserved on ice, while the DCU goes up in flames outside; waiting for new owners to come and take it out and warm it up.

Who is Deathstroke?

At the end of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Deathstroke boards the yacht of Lex Luthor. Deathstroke wants to take down the Batman, and Luthor has information to help him. Luthor reveals to Deathstroke that Batman is Bruce Wayne.

Deathstroke first appeared in DC Comics in 1980 in Teen Titans. His real name is Slade Wilson. He is a mercenary with one eye who wields a katana and various guns. His costume motif includes full body armor, military gear, and a mask with one eyehole, with one side of the mask black and the other side orange.

Deathstroke mirrors Batman. He is as equally masterful at hand-to-hand combat as Batman, he has his own suit that provides him protection, and he possesses multiple weapons to combat Batman’s collection of gadgets and tricks. Joe Manganiello is 6’5’’, and would present the most physically imposing villain we have seen in a standalone Batman movie.

What Was the Rumored Plot?

What we know about the Batman movie is all in pieces. The film is supposed to follow Batman as he battles Deathstroke across the Gotham City, finding himself as the one being pursued for a change and physically threatened. We get a glimpse of what this battle across Gotham could be like in the 2022 comic One Dark Knight, in which Batman escorts a criminal through the city during a mix of a summer heatwave and a blackout, and all of Gotham's parasites are crawling up from the dark corners to try to kill him. The movie could follow the comic's narrative structure as a story set on a single night. This would be a departure from every Batman movie that has come before it, which have contained time jumps and stories told over multiple nights and weeks.

Early rumors about the story were that it would be set in Arkham Asylum. That may have changed during writing, but the characters may still visit the location in the final draft. Exploring 80 years of mythology, built on other chapters in Batman’s life, the story must involve other characters from his past that he runs into in this tour of Gotham. It is this universe of characters around Batman that sets him apart from most superheroes. He has a whole world built around him of love interests, enemies, friends, frenemies, father figures, and adopted family.

Joker and Harley Quinn are once again free in the city. Some encounters with the Clown Prince and his princess of madness would be expected. The story dealing with the death of Robin at the hands of Joker and Harley was set up in Batman v Superman, and it was teased by Joker in the Knightmare dream in Zack Snyder's Justice League, but the details/mysteries have yet to be explored. In BvS, Bruce Wayne stares at the costume of Robin, which is on display in a glass case in the batcave. The costume features damage from bullets and knives, is charred from a fire, and features a graffiti tag across the torso that reads, "Ha, ha, ha. Jokes on you, Batman."

Catwoman is the most important character in Batman's life that we never saw in the DCU films, and if she was going to be introduced at any point, it would have been in Affleck's Batman. Zack Snyder may have previewed what he knows about the world that Affleck and Terrio were building when he spoke about the relationship between Catwoman and Batman on a livestream. Snyder said, "You would have to say, there's a flashback to 10 years ago, where (Batman and Catwoman) were a thing. And then he had to arrest her, I don't know what happened, or he had to let her go, and it tweaked him. And now, who knows what she's doing now, she's running some sort of international antiquities or something, and he needs to retire, and they find each other." Snyder later told SnyderCutBR, "I do believe there was a relationship with Selina Kyle. And I do believe that it's as close as he's gotten to a real kind of relationship in the sense of someone that he had an affinity with. But I think they were both too broken to ever be married or to have a relationship that was based on what we would call traditional."

We know from Zack Snyder’s original plans for the Justice League sequels that The Riddler played a part in deciphering the anti-life equation. An appearance of The Riddler would have helped to connect the Batman movie to the larger narrative. This could even be the central driving point of the plot – that the equation has been decoded, and Batman is carrying or chasing this MacGuffin in a briefcase through the city while being pursued by Deathstroke.

In the end, Deathstroke is reported to be too fast for Batman and has the Caped Crusader defeated, but Batgirl/woman joins the fight and evens the tables with her speed. Given Batgirl’s effect on the battle, we can interpret this Batgirl is a serious character existing in Batman's world. She is not a rookie fangirl who is in way over her head. She is dangerous. She has survived years of this lifestyle.