By The DCEU has had its issues. That is putting it lightly, but there have been some bright spots with the releases of Wonder Woman and Aquaman gaining praise from fans and critics. Another of these was Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the Dark Knight. His casting was initially met with a fair amount of criticism but he won over most fans with his great performance in the much-derided Batman vs Superman. He brought a gruff and grizzled veteran mystique to the character and made it his own.
It has long been suspected that he was stepping away from the role — his leaving the director’s chair for the Batman solo movie, handing over scripting duties, and just being mum on the movie itself. It became more and more likely that once Matt Reeves took over he was going to recast the role for the new version of The Batman. This was confirmed last month and last night we found out why.
Affleck said that when it came to the script he worked on it but just “couldn’t crack it” and he “thought it was time to let someone else take a shot at it, and they got some really good people.” He seemed to be in good spirits about it and announced simply “I am not Batman.” It is unknown who will be filling the role following Affleck’s departure but reports indicate that they are looking for a younger version of the character for this new script.
The Batman has a tentative release date of June 25, 2021.
Watch: Ben Affleck Explains Why He Quit ‘The Batman’ [Collider]