(cheers and applause)
- Hey, it's Batfleck.
Hey.
Welcome to Nerdist News.
(upbeat music)
- Batman, hey!
- If you're a Warner Bros. executive these days,
Batman must be starting to feel like your moody teenage kid.
One day, he's making you proud by topping the box office.
The next day, he's got you tearing your gorgeous hair out,
worrying about the future
of one of your most valuable franchises.
Yes, whatever champaign corks were being popped yesterday
in celebration of the Lego Batman's impressive $53 million
haul were promptly, probably, un-popped
once the latest word broke out about the latest trouble
to hist the live-action DC cinematic universe.
Ben Affleck, ah, who just recently stepped away
from the director's chair on the upcoming Batman solo film,
is now rumored to want out of the project altogether.
- Ah, (bleep).
- [ ] In fact, he may be just done
with the cape and cowl, period.
He will be Bafleck no more!
- No!
- Now, you'd probably be wise to sprinkle these rumors
with a little bit of bat salt
that you hold in your bat container, seeing as how,
at the moment, they're really only coming from
one direct source, John Campea of Collider Movie Talk.
Still, he claims to get his intel from multiple sources
close to the project.
"Make no mistake," Campea says, "He doesn't want
to be Batman anymore."
And adding that the star is currently "talking with
"Warner Bros. in an attempt to get out.
"And if they do not let him out, the standalone Batman film
"that ultimately happens will be the last time
"we see Affleck as Batman."
But how legit is all of this?
It will be hard to say until we hear anything direct
from the star or the studio, but at the same time,
it sure seems like Affleck's discontent with the Dark Knight
has been growing ever since he stepped into the role.
Heck, BVS wasn't even released before his sadness
got turned into one of the most heartbreaking memes
of all time.
(sad piano music)
Ah, poor Batfleck man.
Unfortunately, his Dark Knight of the soul
didn't end there.
After enthusiastically agreeing to write and direct
his solo outing as Batman,
he slowly got less and less involved.
Rumors have swirled as to why exactly this happened.
Some say that he was growing frustrated
with the Warner Bros. tinkering with the script,
while others have argued that the failure
of his last project, Live by Night, shook his confidence,
causing him to doubt his ability to work in front of
and behind the camera simultaneously,
especially on a big tent pole blockbuster
that would be even harder, but whatever the reason,
it's clear that his excitement for the franchise
has been waning,
oh, you get it?
Like Bruce Wayne.
- [Cameraman] Oh, oh yeah.
- Oh, (bleep).
We are smart.
(cameraman laughs)
And this fact is giving us enough evidence
to say there's a good chance
these most recent rumors are true.
What does all of this mean for the future of the Batman
and the DCEU as a whole?
It's a pretty safe bet that (laughs) no matter what,
Affleck is going to fulfill his contract with the studio,
which includes one more Justice League movie
and, most likely, the standalone film.
Warner Bros. has too much wrapped up
in the DC cinematic universe to just let go
of one of its biggest stars without a fight.
They may need to wheel in another Bat truck
full of Bat bucks up to his front door (laughs)
to make sure he doesn't phone the whole thing in.
But they'll do what it takes to make it work.
From there, however, it gets a little dicier.
Sooner or later, Affleck is going to want to jump
behind the camera on his next Oscar contender.
And without a contract, no amount of money
will be able to keep him down in the Batcave.
What is DC to do at that point?
Well, arguably, they could use that as an excuse
to reboot the, thus far, critically unloved franchise.
But unless Wonder Woman and Justice League
both underperform, that probably won't happen.
Another solution could be to take the franchise
in a daring new direction.
You could kill off Wayne or retire him in the solo flick
and shift gears to Nightwing, or Azrael,
or some other replacement from the comic books.
But even if they put Dick in the Batsuit,
we can't see Warner Bros. having enough faith
in their audience to think they would accept
a non-Wayne Batman.
So that really only leaves one option, recasting.
Yeah, keep an eye on those casting notices
because some time in the next year or two,
you're bound to see one looking for a male
in his late-30s with a growly voice and ability
to act under eight inches of rubber,
which sounds kind of sexy now that I think about it.
Or heck, fans seem to love Will Arnett's Lego take
on the world's greatest detective,
so maybe they could just graduate him to non-brick Batman?
That's not any more ridiculous than anything
Zach Snyder has done with the character.
- Why did you say that name?
- But what do you all think?
Does Batfleck really want to turn in the cape and cowl?
And who would you like to see take his place?
Let's discus, discuss.
(dramatic music)
- Batman, yeah!
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