Warner Bros has approved Robert Pattinson as the star of The Batman, the trilogy of films that Matt Reeves will direct later this year, Deadline hears.

Pattinson has been considered a front runner because the filmmaker liked him, but the studio was torn between him and Nicholas Hoult, and wanted both of the actors on tape because this is such a big decision on a cornerstone Warner Bros DC franchise. Those meetings happened yesterday, I’m told, and the decision was made. Hoult, who starred in Tolkien and is about to reprise in X-Men: First Class, was impressive, but Pattinson will be the guy and negotiations will get underway any moment. The film is produced by Dylan Clark, who produced Reeves’ Planet of the Apes films. Expect an announcement imminently.

Pattinson is a strong choice. He certainly has been at the center of a zeitgest franchise before in Twilight Saga, and he has used the time after to show his chops as an actor. He has shown those chops in films like High Life, and is starring for Warner Bros in Christopher Nolan’s next film, and just debuted in the Robert Eggers-directed The Lighthouse at Cannes.

They’ve got to work out a deal that will clearly include options on at least two more films, but this is considered a formality in a drawn out process. Reeves’ film tracks Bruce Wayne in the formative stages of Batman, which is why they needed an actor in his early 30s.

This film will in no way carry on the work that Ben Affleck did as the older Batman in Batman Vs. Superman and Justice League.

Pattinson is repped by WME, 3 Arts and Curtis Brown.