The Batman: 7 Challenges Matt Reeves Must Overcome

Now that the upcoming solo Batman movie has found a director, it’s time to start thinking about what audiences can expect. Though Ben Affleck leaving smarts, Matt Reeves is an inspired choice, likely to respect the caped crusader's legacy while also creating something that carries his own stamp as he did with the latest Planet of the Apes Movies.

His mixture of large spectacle movies (Cloverfield) and more thoughtful fare (Let Me In) makes him individually suited to giving us a balanced Batman that isn’t afraid to delve into Wayne’s troubled psyche in between the obligatory action set-pieces. He's an intelligent, impressively varied film-maker, and his hiring is an exciting development for the DCEU.

However, it’s not all going to be plain sailing: the DC movie universe hasn’t had the easiest time of it so far, with a string of critical flops that mean the studio is likely to expect Reeves to break this cycle, no matter how much they all made.

No pressure there then.

And those expectations of delivery will have to overcome several notable hurdles if Reeves is going to make a Batman solo movie that cleans the slate and gets the DC cinematic universe back on track...

Reeves has already proved he is a director with vision, and he's already scored a number of critical successes. You would think this means that Warner Bros. would let the man get on with it and create the best darn Batman movie he can but it’s a slightly more complex situation than that.

As superhero movies have skyrocketed to popularity, and the stakes have increased, so too has coverage of so-called studio interference. Consider DC's own Suicide Squad which is still defended halfheartedly by director David Ayer as 'his cut', but which was widely reported to have brought in multiple editors to lighten the tone and create what was ultimately a disappointment for fans of the characters,

This inflexibility could possibly be the cause of the lacklustre results so far in DC’s new movie universe and the worrying number of directors who have so far walked away from their projects. And it's not like it's only a DC problem - look at Edgar Wright leaving Ant-Man over "creative differences": as long as any studio executive has an idea of what a film "should" be, they'll make sure a director delivers it.

In other words, it’s unlikely that Reeves will be able to work without a few executives peering over his shoulder.

Let’s hope that he’s able to stand his ground and make his vision for The Batman a reality without too much meddling from the studio. For fans of behind the scenes gossip, this is likely to be one of the most interesting aspects of The Batman’s development.