Last Thursday director Matt Reeves revealed our first look at his Batman, played by Robert Pattinson, wearing what we assume is going to be the Bat suit in his film The Batman. While we are all excited to see this film in theaters in June of 2021, we can also take a moment to look back at why it has taken so long to get another solo Batman film since the finale of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises back in 2012. The last time we saw Batman on the big screen he was being played by Ben Affleck, who first wore the suit in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, briefly in Suicide Squad and finally in Justice League. So what happened that Affleck never got his own film?

At one point in the DCEU was going to contain a Batman film in which Affleck starred and directed. But in January of 2019 Affleck officially announced that he was going to be leaving the role of Batman after months of questioning if he was going to continue or not. Recently he sat down with The New York Times about his new film The Way Back, which is a sports drama that will be released in theaters on March 6th. In this film he plays a drunk that blows up his marriage and lands in rehab.

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During this interview he also talks about not only his struggles with alcoholism but also his decision to leave the role of Batman after Justice League. During the time that Affleck was initially brought on board to write, direct and star in the next Batman film. But the troubled production of Justice League is said to have dampened his interest in the project. But it seems that the main reason he left was because he was afraid of relapsing as a result of having to deal with issues in his film like the ones in Justice League. “I showed somebody ‘The Batman’ script. They said, ‘I think the script is good. I also think you’ll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went though again,’” said Affleck.

It’s a shame that we never got to see what kind of film Affleck had in mind for The Batman. I would be interested to read the script of his film if it ever would come available. I do find it commendable that he recognized that he had a problem and that he realized that he needed to step away. What do you think of his choice to leave the Batman film? Let us know in the comment section below!

Warner Bros. The Batman is scheduled to be released on June 25th, 2020.

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Source: The New York Times