For nearly as long as the DC Extended Universe has existed, there have been plans for Batman to get his own movie within this franchise. Now, after years of rumors and speculation, Warner Bros has finally dated the Caped Crusader’s next adventure, tentatively called The Batman, for June 25, 2021.
This news comes from Deadline, which also confirmed the numerous reports that rather than Ben Affleck donning the cape and cowl again, The Batman will star a younger actor as the eponymous protagonist. War for the Planet of the Apes’ Matt Reeves is directing and wrote the script.
A Batman movie set within the DCEU was first announced back in October 2014, only a couple months after Ben Affleck was cast as the Gotham City vigilante for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. By 2016, Affleck, who later reprised Batman for Suicide Squad and Justice League, was set to direct and co-produce The Batman, as well as co-write the script with Geoff Johns. However, by the beginning of 2017, Affleck dropped as director, and a few months later, Matt Reeves was brought aboard as the new director and screenwriter.
Since then, there have been various claims about how instead of Ben Affleck playing Batman again, a new actor would be brought in to fill his shoes. Affleck has since confirmed that a re-casting is indeed happening, and the search is now underway to find the person to play next live action Batman. It should be noted, though, that even those the new actor will be younger then Affleck, The Batman will reportedly not be an adaptation of the Year One storyline.
Story-wise, nothing official has been revealed about The Batman other than that Matt Reeves intends to take a noir approach and highlight Bruce Wayne’s detective skills. Back when Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns were writing the script, the plan was for Batman to face off against Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke, who we saw at the end of Justice League being played by Joe Manganiello. That conflict appears to have been tossed out though, and Matt Reeves recently stated that The Batman will have a “rogues gallery,” with Penguin rumored to be one of the foes.
The Batman is currently the fourth DCEU movie scheduled to be released. Shazam! hits theaters on April 5, while Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 are coming out on February 7, 2020 and June 5, 2020, respectively. Suicide Squad 2, now being called The Suicide Squad, is set to follow The Batman on August 6, 2021. There is also Joker coming out on October 4, but that’s a standalone movie unconnected to the DCEU, as evidenced by Joaquin Phoenix playing the Clown Prince of Crime rather than Jared Leto.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all the latest updates concerning The Batman. For now, browse through our DC movies guide to learn what else the superhero franchise has coming down the pipeline.
