10 Directors Who Should Helm The Batman (If Affleck Quits)

6. Matthew Vaughn

Matthew Vaughn X-Men set
20th Century Fox

Known For: Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service, X-Men: First Class.

Matthew Vaughn is a name that consistently pops up when there's a free directing slot on a high-profile comic-book project, and there's a reason for that; he excels within the genre.

X-Men: First Class is one of the best in the franchise, Kick-Ass was a funny, irreverent superhero delight (and even contained a nod to Batman in the form of Big Daddy), and Kingsman surprised everybody when it came out in 2015, making over $400 million dollars and spawning a sequel, The Golden Circle, due out later this year.

And while Vaughn is primarily known for his light-hearted approach to his movies, they're packed with countless darker moments; he killed off Big Daddy by burning him alive and had Harry Hart shot in the head, to name but a few.

He isn't afraid to murder fan-favourite characters if it serves the story, and this unshakable approach to weaving a compelling tale, no matter the cost for our characters, could lead to the most unpredictable, shocking Batman movie we've ever seen.

Plus, it's no secret that the DCEU needs just a tad more humour, and Vaughn would have no problem there - he'd just need to tone it down from his usual amount.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!