2016 was supposed to be the year that Warner Bros. blew the door wide open for the DC Extended Universe. Instead, it feels like they blew half the door out of frame while a good chunk of fans rushed to shut what remained of the terribly broken door behind them. BothBatman V Superman: Dawn of JusticeandSuicide Squadwere divisive, to say the least. Still, there is plenty of hope on the horizon, withJustice Leaguedue out later this year andBen Affleck’sThe Batmansupposedly readying for production sometime soon. But things may not be all good and well. In fact, they may be a “mess.”
According to the Batman fan site Batman On Film,Warner Bros.andBen Affleckhave pushed back production onThe Batmanby a couple of months. The site couldn’t name the source for their information, but they did say it came from a longtime source, so that might lend some credibility to it since they have gone to the same source multiple times. That said, Batman On Film doesn’t exactly have a perfect track record, so this shouldn’t be taken as gospel or anything, but it does seem to line up with what we’ve been hearing as of late.
Ben Affleckwas officially announced as the director ofThe Batmanover the summer at San Diego Comic-Con and since then, things have gotten a bit muddy. Anticipation was at an all-time high when it was announced via some shaky footage released online byBen Affleckhimself that the villain ofThe Batmanwould be Deathstroke and thatJoe Manganiellowould be playing the famed mercenary. Since then, things have been a bit less exciting and much more confusing.Ben Affleckis working on the script with DCEU headGeoff Johns, but the script isn’t finished andAffleckkeeps doing his best to temper expectations. Most recently, he implied the movie may not even happen with him at the helm. Here is what he had to say in a recent interview with The Guardian.
“That’s the idea. But it’s not a set thing and there’s no script. If it doesn’t come together in a way I think is really great I’m not going to do it.”
Comments like that raise questions. Like, why wouldBen Affleckagree to do this movie then publically try to temper expectations in such a way? Well, the folks at Batman On Film may have an answer for that as well.Justice Leagueis mostly done shooting and almost everything we have seen has been very encouraging, but the site notes that they are hearing the movie is “a mess.” Given thatZack Snyderis directing the movie and that he also directedBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, that isn’t the hardest thing to believe. Even the most confident defender of the DCEU can acknowledge thatBvSwasn’t the cleanest movie ever made. Also, sinceJustice Leaguewas scheduled to start shooting right after the release ofBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justicehit theaters, Warner Bros. andZack Snyderwere forced to try and course correct on the fly following the poor reception from critics. That isn’t exactly the best way to kick things off.
Perhaps, and again, this is mostly based on hearsay, ifBen Affleckis getting the feelingJustice Leagueis a mess after being in it, he might want to distance himself fromThe Batmanas a result? He has been very vocal about his distaste for theDaredevilmovie he took part in and that he decided to play Batman so that he could get a superhero movie right. He has defendedBatman V Supermanpublicly but he must know that the movie wasn’t a home run. If theJustice League moviewinds up being another divisive movie, he probably won’t want to spend this much of his time on movies critics and many fans don’t love in the future. He is a very in-demand talent both in front of and behind the camera, after all and he isn’t getting any younger.
Still, much of this is unconfirmed and we don’t have much to go on, but there is perhaps cause for some concern. For now, most of theJustice Leaguepromotional materials have been encouraging andThe Batmanwill merely beshooting in the summerinstead of the spring. If that really is the case, then no harm no foul. But, there is a chance this is signifying a larger, underlying issue with the DCEU.Justice Leagueis scheduled for release on November 17 and Warner Bros. has not yet set a release date forThe Batman, but it is still expected to shoot sometime this year.
