Who would’ve predicted that Warner Bros.’ biggest superhero franchises would be Wonder Woman and Aquaman? No one, really, and yet with James Wan’s recent subaquatic adventure flick having surpassed The Dark Knight Rises as the highest grossing DC movie, that’s where we are.
Yes, superheroes have never been more popular on the big screen than they are right now, though for some odd reason, Warner Bros. and DC just can’t get another solo Superman pic off the ground and Matt Reeves’ The Batman seems locked in development hell. At least, it was.
That all changed tonight though when we learned that the film had finally been dated for a June 2021 release. Not only that, but at long last, we were given firm confirmation that Ben Affleck will not be returning to star. In case you wanted to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth though, the actor has now hopped on Twitter to share Deadline’s article (which broke the news), writing that he’s excited to see The Batman and Reeves’ vision for it.
Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life. https://t.co/GNgyJroMIO
— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) January 31, 2019
Though it’ll certainly be disappointing to many to hear that Ben’s done with the role, this shouldn’t come as a big surprise. After all, give that the DCEU is being heavily revamped, it’s not too shocking to see that WB’s trying to distance The Batman from the character’s less-than-beloved past outings. Plus, if Wonder Woman 1984 is going to steer clear of the events of Justice League by being set in the past, then it only figures that Reeves’ movie will do the same by featuring a younger Bruce Wayne.
What exactly our hero will be getting up to in The Batman remains unclear, but earlier today, the director revealed that he’ll have a whole rogues gallery to face off against. Which villains will feature is another matter entirely – though we highly suspect the Penguin will be at least one of them – but if shooting gets underway this November as planned, then we can hopefully expect a few more details in the coming months.