The Batman WON'T Be Part Of The DCEU
But what does that mean for Ben Affleck?
It's a big couple of days for DCEU news. Not only have we heard about the Joker Origin movie, but there's also confirmation that Jared Leto and Harley Quinn are getting their own movie, that Suicide Squad 2 is being fast-tracked and that Justice League Dark is being rewritten. Far bigger than all of that put together is the reveal that The Batman won't actually be part of the DCEU - or at least not part of the established shared universe, anyway.
Word comes direct from the horses mouth. In this case, the horse is director Matt Reeves, who spoke to KCRW (via Batman On Film) to reveal that the stand-alone solo film will be completely separate from the DCEU:
“Well I have a vision for a way to do something with that character [Batman] that feels like it resonates with me personally, and a perspective that can grow out into other things. When they [Warner Bros.] approached me, what they said was ‘look, it’s a standalone, it’s not part of the extended universe.’”
This is huge news. And it could have major ramifications for the DCEU. For instance, how does it sit with Ben Affleck being cast as Bruce Wayne? Wouldn't that confuse the logic of him being in both the DCEU and its off-shoot Batman films (particularly when Warner Bros have said that they're casting a separate Joker for the spin-off, non-DCEU origin movie?
Does it mean we are set for confirmation that a new Batman actor is on his way in, with Affleck sticking around for DCEU movies (presumably all the Justice League ones)? That's not entirely certain of course, as Logan was a sort-of stand-alone X-Men movie and it still had Hugh Jackman in it
And how will this work in practical? Could we see Flashpoint used as a means to splinter the universes? Or is Reeves simply using "stand-alone" to overtly state that we won't get any appearances from any of the other Justice League characters or the narrative? It's certainly an intriguing line to draw.