The Batman: Is Matt Reeves Really Making Year One?
And is Jake Gyllenhaal now OUT?!
Despite it being in various states of production for years now, The Batman is still a bit of a mystery. We know that Matt Reeves is writing and directing and that he apparently has a vision set apart from the DCEU (or Worlds Of DC as it's now known). Other than that, there's very little in terms of concrete information, including the true state of Ben Affleck's continued association with the project.
But there have been lots of rumours at least, including Affleck NOT being involved, the Penguin being the main villain, several seminal comic arcs being the focus and it linking to the new Joker Origin movie. And now, there's a new rumour that we might finally be getting an adaptation of the iconic Year One arc.
According to Revenge of the Fans, Reeves is now looking to cast an actor who is 15-20 years younger than Ben Affleck to star, which rather unfortunately would take Jake Gyllenhaal out of consideration. He had been previously linked to the title role, but this would suggest thinking has moved on. Jack Huston is specifically named as one of the actors who's already met to talk about a role, but he wouldn't fit the new criteria, so he must be up for something else.
This comes in line with the same source saying that Reeves will draw from Frank Miller's Year One as the basis for The Batman, which would explain the Harvey Dent link.
Whether it would be a good idea remains to be seen: do we really need another sort-of-origin movie? Why can't we just have Batman already operational?
The idea of him being younger and actually having villains to fight is far better than him being old and retired like Affleck's DCEU Batman, but that's where it should begin. Not with the murder of the Waynes. So, hopefully, the fact that Reeves apparently wants to "draw" on Year One means that's all he'll be doing.
What do you think?