I know more people than not like Affleck as Bats, but i'm not one of them. I have never cared for him in anything, so to me, it would be a welcome change. We have already had five actors portray Bat-man on the big screen, so recasting the part with another actor wouldn't be the end of the world to me.

2. The Marvel movies have already recast characters and had characters not be seen since. Realistically, the only person who is a necessity is Downey because he is the heart and soul. Ben Affleck is not.

3. Batman has been recast before. Affleck hasn't really established the character yet and could be recast. The only recasting that would have hurt Batman would have been losing Bale after TDK.

4. Ultimately we don't know if any of this is true. How about everyone just waits to see. Fan boys were pitching a fit about Wonder Woman for the longest time and it turned out well. So maybe, it's worth it just to wait and see what happens first.

‘The Batman’ Won’t Be Part of the DC Extended Universe

Matt Singer
August 23, 2017 3:15 PM

Just yesterday, Deadline published a report that Warner Bros. was developing an origin story movie for the Joker. Included in that piece was the noteworthy comment that this was the first movie “under a new banner that has yet to be named in which WB can expand the canon of DC properties and create unique storylines with different actors playing the iconic characters.” In recent years, everything Warners has done (at least in live-action) with its DC superheroes has been made within the confines of the shared DC Extended Universe. The Joker news suggests a move away from the everything-is-connected approach that has been so popular with comic and toy movies lately.

And now there’s this interview with The Batman director Matt Reeves from KCRW’s The Business [via Batman on Film] in which he echoes that possibility. Reeves recently joined The Batman, which is to be the first solo movie featuring the version of the Dark Knight played by Ben Affleck, after years of development by Affleck himself (who was originally slated to direct the movie). Supposedly, Affleck’s script was tossed out, and the movie was sent back to square one; Reeves’ comments on The Business make it clear he is making his version of Batman and no one else’s — and that his Batman may not be connected to anything else that has come before:
I have a vision for a way to do something with that character that at least feels like it resonates with me personally, and a perspective that can grow outward into other things. When they approached me, what they said was ‘Look, it’s a standalone. This isn’t part of the Extended Universe.’

Reeves also told Kim Masters that he’s “also totally fine not doing Batman” and is only really interested in making a movie (or potentially three movies) about the character if it’s his version and his vision.

The director also noted that he’s “only just beginning” work on The Batman, so a lot could change; the movie could wind up in the DCEU after all, or Reeves could drop out, or someone else could conceivably play Batman. (There’s already been a lot of rumors about that.) What’s important in the here and now, I think, is these two tidbits combined, which suggest that after years of trying to copy Marvel’s formula, Warners and DC might be shifting gears in an interesting way.

Yes, comic books tend to exist in shared universes, where all the characters can meet and interact. But after decades of reboots and revisions, there are, particularly in the DC Comics, a myriad of alternate universes, and alternate versions of every character. Some of my favorite DC books as a kid were Elseworlds stories, typically annuals and mini-series, that were freed from continuity and had a ton more freedom of content to have fun with the characters. After so many Batman movies already, it’s an important question: How do you make this film different from all the others? Applying this anything-goes approach could be one way, and potentially a really exciting way.