With AFFLECK & LETO BACK, What Does this Mean for The DCEU?
Our friends over at The Cultured Nerd revealed the big news this week that Ben Affleck will indeed return to the cape and cowl for additional Batman projects on HBO Max. These range from additional films as well as Affleck’s Batman project which was scrapped prior to Matt Reeves writing his own Batman movie.
This exciting news comes after an exclusive Vanity Fair article in August which confirmed Ben would return as the Dark Knight in Andy Muschiettie’s The Flash. With all this, it’s easy to see that there are some major plans being executed over at Warner Media and HBO Max. So, you may be asking, what does this mean for the DCEU?
Well, as been discussed over on the Bridging the Geekdoms Podcast, the fight to save Zack Snyder’s Justice League has led to something much larger than fans could have ever imagined possible. The restoration of the newly dubbed SNYDERVERSE.
Back in 2015/2016 as production of Snyder’s 5 film arc was in full swing Warner Bros. and DC wanted to expand their properties and begin pushing out films at a rate similar to Marvel Studios. Since Zack was already establishing a world of heroes Warner pushed for the characters within to be branched off into their own solo projects and more. While this was not entirely Zack’s vision for his arc he believed that these films could further dive into the characters essentially helping develop them further for his overall story.
It was going to start with Snyder and Suicide Squad director, David Ayer, working on the story for the upcoming villain action flick where it would essentially lead into the events of the first Justice League film. Unfortunately, this is where the behind the scenes issues within DC and WB began to explode. Because of this much of the intended story and concepts for Suicide Squad were left on the table and cutting room floor as the script was reworked to connect less to Snyder’s world.
As things progressed and films were announced, it seemed, to the public, that things were running smoothly. In March of 2017 though Zack Snyder left his Justice League project and, to a larger extent, all future DC films. With this, many of the announced projects that had yet to be in production were either scrapped or delayed indefinitely due to creative differences. An entire world being ushered in and built by Zack Snyder was being deconstructed from within.
Jump to May 20, 2020 and something happened that changed the film industry. Zack Snyder announced that he would be coming back to complete his Justice League film thanks to all the support and love shown by his fans for nearly three years.
But things didn’t stop there, this was simply the beginning. With new management in place, and the encouragement of creative integrity and freedom, many of the forgotten, delayed or even cancelled projects have been put back on the table.
The SNYDERVERSE is BACK on track.
Even with all the rumors swirling of Zack getting the chance to not only complete his first Justice League movie but also his entire arc new movements were born. #ReleaseTheAyerCut & #Batfleck
Much like the #ReleasetheSnyderCut movement the purpose of RTAC was to push Warner in allowing David Ayer to finish and re-cut his Suicide Squad film to his intended vision. To this date though, despite all the hashtags, Tweets from Ayer himself, and social media events it has yet to be officially announced. However, friends of the Spoilerverse have assured us that it is in the works and it will inevitably be announced.
With that, the #Batfleck movement took on a life of its own showing appreciation for Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the Dark Knight. And since the announcement of Zack Snyder’s Justice League rumors swirled that Affleck, who was a big catalyst in the Snyder story arc, would be returning to the role of Batman. Finally, in mid-August Vanity Fair reported Affleck’s return for the upcoming Flash movie. Then, just recently, TCN reported their sources confirmed Ben signed a new multi-project deal which includes one of the known cancelled films, Affleck’s Batman movie.
And to help put a smile on everyone’s face, Jared Leto has been officially tapped to return as the Joker in Zack Snyder’s Justice League as well as rumored to appear in future projects such as Affleck’s Batman project and possibly a previously cancelled Joker & Harley Quinn movie.
So, as you can see the Snyderverse as well as so much more appears to be back on track