Almost exactly this time last year, it was announced that Ben Affleck would be returning to Batman, reprising his role as the Caped Crusader in James Wan aquaman 2also known as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Affleck said he was done playing Batman in DC’s live-action movies as early as 2019 — he even had a goodbye ceremony for his role as a character. He previously played Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyders Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justicethen took over the role again justice league and had a cameo appearance in the David Ayer issue of suicide squad.
But Jason Momoa took to Instagram in 2022 and revealed that Affleck would be returning as Batman Aquaman Sequel, which is then scheduled for release in March 2023. Numerous timing changes for both aquaman 2 And The Lightning messed up that plan, and now The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that after several rounds of retakes Batman was cut off aquaman 2 complete.
This change is a little less surprising to people who’ve seen it The Lightning when it finally hit theaters in June after being repeatedly pushed back from its original July 2022 release date. The Lightning gently resets the DC cinematic universe, first returning Michael Keaton to the Batman role and then hiring another guest star for a comic cameo appearance. Let go The Lightning before aquaman 2 has created a continuity problem: After Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) messes up the continuity of the universe, Ben Affleck is no longer Batman in his world. So how would he return to play the role? aquaman 2?
According to the THR report, the aquaman 2 The Batman cameo originally starred Michael Keaton, who directed scenes for the role. When the release schedule changed and aquaman 2 When it looked like it would be released first, Affleck was hired to reshoot that cameo. With director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran taking over the DC film universe, the decision was reportedly made to ditch the cameo altogether to avoid confusion. “The latest cut of the film does not feature a version of the Dark Knight as new DC heads, according to sources James Gunn and Peter Safran don’t want to promise a cinematic universe that doesn’t come to fruition, nor do they want to overly tie it to past failures,” reports THR.
There is still time for that to change again – Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Gunn and Safran is currently not scheduled for release until December 2023. The main reason Gunn and Safran were handed responsibility was a new focus on strong leadership and decision-making at a company that was constantly shifting tactics around its films and from a shared one – from the universe vision for its superheroes to a series independent pieces. And Gunn has been particularly vocal and specific about his plans for the new DC Universe. So maybe this is the last time we’ll see Batfleck – at least until then aquaman 2 appears on home video and the deleted scenes are leaked online.
