Ben Affleck is back as Batman.

You thought Batfleck was out of the game. Batfleck is NEVER out of the game. Or, at the very least, he’s coming back for extra innings. While Ben Affleck’s Batman was never in any critically-acclaimed films, he was enjoyed as the Caped Crusader by many fans out there. It would have been nice to at least see him exit the DC Extended Universe in a fitting way. Well, as it turns out, we actually will get at least one more film with Ben Affleck as Mr. Wayne.

Vanity Fair is reporting that Affleck will play Batman once again in The Flash movie, starring Ezra Miller. And the news isn’t just coming from the outlet itself, but rather The Flash director Andy Muschietti. In a statement to the outlet, Muschietti spoke to the strengths of Batman in a team dynamic.

“His Batman has a dichotomy that is very strong, which is his masculinity—because of the way he looks, and the imposing figure that he has, and his jawline —but he’s also very vulnerable,” Muschietti said in an interview. “He knows how to deliver from the inside out, that vulnerability. He just needs a story that allows him to bring that contrast, that balance.”

Not to toot his own horn, but it sounds like Muschietti wrote that very script for Ben Affleck’s Batman. And Affleck has agreed to return in the role.

RELATED – The Flash Will Not Feature Atlantean/Amazonian War? | LRM’s Barside Buzz

“He’s a very substantial part of the emotional impact of the movie,” Muschietti said. “The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level that we haven’t seen before. It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but their characters are more related than we think. They both lost their mothers to murder, and that’s one of the emotional vessels of the movie. That’s where the Affleck Batman kicks in.”

“I’m glad to be collaborating with someone who has been on both sides of the camera, too,” the director concluded.

And, don’t forget, we’ll also be seeing Michael Keaton return to the cowl. But, as it stands, Ben Affleck’s Batman will be the familiar starting point for Ezra Miller’s Flash before he jumps into his multiverse adventure, where he’ll likely meet the alternative Batman.

“[Affleck’s Batman]’s the baseline. He’s part of that unaltered state before we jump into Barry’s adventure,” the director said. “There’s a familiarity there.”

And we can’t really mention DC multiverse without mentioning the Arrowverse. This past year, they essentially unified every screen iteration of every character, implying they all exist in a complex multiverse. It sounds like The Flash is continuing that trend.

“This movie is a bit of a hinge in the sense that it presents a story that implies a unified universe where all the cinematic iterations that we’ve seen before are valid,” Muschietti said. “It’s inclusive in the sense that it is saying all that you’ve seen exists, and everything that you will see exists, in the same unified multiverse.”

Well, either way, I’m happy to see Ben Affleck return as Batman. This could be the last time we see him don the cowl, but at least now, we’ll get some real closure on the whole thing. This really just goes to show how quickly things changed. According to Umberto Gonzalez of TheWrap, Affleck was given the script for the film last week and agreed this week to join.

Key piece of intel: Affleck got the script at the end of last week and agreed this week to join the project.

— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) August 20, 2020

Are you happy to see Ben Affleck play Batman again? Sound off down below!

Continue the LRM Online conversation on Discord by CLICKING HERE!

—–

Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcast feed yet The LRM Online Podcast Network? This includes our flagship podcast Breaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, and our morning show LRMornings. Check it out by listening below. It’s also available on all your favorite podcast apps!

Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts |  Spotify  |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play

SOURCE: Vanity Fair, Umberto Gonzalez