Ben Affleck May Not Be Batman for Much Longer: Report
Could Ben Affleck soon be hanging up his cape?
The actor will be at Comic-Con this weekend to promote "Justice League," in which he reprises the role of Batman. But according to the Hollywood Reporter, Affleck's Batman future is "in doubt."
Though Warner Bros. told THR, "Ben is our Batman. We love him as Batman. We want to keep him in the cowl as long as we can," another source tells the outlet that the studio wants to usher Affleck out "gracefully, addressing the change in some shape or form in one of the upcoming DC films."
Affleck might not even star in "The Batman," the standalone movie he was set to direct at one point. Instead, Matt Reeves ("War for the Planet of the Apes") has taken over and is also dropping the script Affleck co-wrote.
And as THR notes, Reeves has mentioned the idea of a Batman trilogy — but Affleck is 45, so he'd be in his mid-late 50s by the time a trilogy concluded, not to mention a second "Justice League" movie. His co-stars are quite a bit younger: Superman Henry Cavill is 34; Wonder Woman Gal Gadot is 32; and Aquaman Jason Momoa is 37.
Perhaps the DC Extended Universe will take a page from Marvel's playbook by rebooting Batman with a very young star, like "Spider-Man" recently did with 21-year-old Tom Holland.