‘The Batman’: tons of villains rumored to be coming, Ben Affleck details recapped
While promoting his film The Accountant, Ben Affleck gave fans an update on his solo Batman film, which he claims is simply titled The Batman.
“The movie I think is going to be called ‘The Batman’. At least that’s what we’re going with right now. I might change it… That’s about all I got right now. We’re working on the script, the script is going well, I’m really excited about it,” Affleck explains.
Affleck addressed the fallout from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in a chat with FOX 5 DC, sounding like a darker, Frank Miller-style Dark Knight is still likely.
“It’s interesting: It was a huge hit movie — more people went to see that than any movie I’ve made in my career. It was the biggest hit of my career and then it had so much editorial negativity. Fans went, and I got a lot of positive response. It was interesting, that movie, because it was judged not necessarily on execution so much as on its tone. People seemed to want to have a lighter tone to the movie, and I thought that was interesting. Tone is not a qualitative thing. It’s subjective, right? Some tones resonate with me that might not with you. And the tone of the movie was really parallel to the Frank Miller book [The Dark Knight Returns], which I liked and thought was great. I’m glad that so many people went and so many people liked the movie.”
Cinema Blend says fans can expect a full cast from the rogue gallery: “A recent report through Birth. Death. Movies. has circulated a rumor from well-placed sources stating that Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns’ new Batman reboot is going to jump-start the Caped Crusader’s franchise with a full compliment of villains already established.”
The reason for this decision was detailed in the following statement made by the publication:
Affleck and Geoff Johns, who has been working with him on the film, want to make the definitive Batman film. They want to tell the ultimate Batman story, and to do so they’re going to bring in all the big guns. They’re going to have a big, sprawling Bat universe already in place.
While there are few details, Jeremy Irons and JK Simmons are set as Alfred and Jim Gordon respectively with Joe Manganiello cast as Deathstroke aka Slade Wilson.
On Deathstroke, Affleck told Collider: “He’s a great villain because—I just had an instinctive feeling that he would match up with him well. You know, I’m a big admirer of that character as well, especially in the New 52 the way that they did Deathstroke, and I thought that it could work.”
Affleck as Batman is next up in Justice League, set for November 17, 2017.
