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

5. Jeff Nichols

1162214

Known For: Midnight Special, Loving, Mud.

Like Colin Trevorrow did with Jurassic world and Gareth Edwards did with Godzilla, followed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Jeff Nichols is primed and ready to make the jump from rising indie starlet to successful big-budget director.

Each of the five feature-films he's directed has at least a 76 on Metacritic and his most recent effort, Loving, is nominated for two Golden Globes, with plenty of Oscar buzz to boot.

The short version: this man is talented, especially when it comes to character drama. For the most part, the DCEU has favoured style over substance and is missing any true depth of character, instead choosing to quickly move the universe forward rather than slowing down, and delivering us any powerful, emotional moments.

Man Of Steel did this best with its selective use of flashbacks and analysis of Clark's formative years, but we haven't seen anything like this since. Nichols could bring this to The Batman in spades; his films tend to focus on a small amount of characters, giving them realistic relationships and flaws, and sending them on a narrative journey that changes them, or makes them question the world around them.

A blockbuster superhero movie combined with this type of sensibility would be an interesting mix, and Nichols is the man to do it.

Contributor
Contributor

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!