The Batman: 10 Essential Stories For Affleck's 2019 Solo Movie

3. The Killing Joke

Again, The Killing Joke would offer an opportunity to celebrate Batman's greatest foe, as well as bringing fans the opportunity to see one of the single most iconic Batman story arcs to the big screen. The Killing Joke is the obvious next step to the Joker's arc that we've already seen established in The Dark Knight: he was the archetypal chaotic menace, driven by madness but utterly methodical in his approach, and it is the combination of that darkness and intelligence that would suit Affleck's approach to film-making. The idea of a tormented Jim Gordon - with the potential for Bryan Cranston to be given the role by his former Argo cohort - would also make the possibility of Affleck making and starring in The Killing Joke an extremely good prospect. And the material is dark enough and gripping enough to give Nolanites a similar sort of tone to the Dark Knight trilogy. It perhaps might not be necessary to jump backwards for the Joker's origin as many times as the comic does, but with a charismatic enough Joker (both young and old) it would make a diverting story element that would at least redress the balance of superheroes endlessly being rebooted.