The internet was aflutter whenour first look atRobert Pattinsonin the upcoming filmThe Batmanwas released online, but in an alternate universe we’d be getting a look atBen Affleckin his first standalone Batman movie. After much coaxing from Warner Bros., Affleck agreed in 2016 to directThe Batmanfrom a script he was working on withGeoff Johns. The film was intended to followJustice Leagueand would be Affleck’s third Batman movie after his debut as a grizzled version of the caped crusader inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In January 2017, Affleck stepped down from the director’s chair but still (publicly) intended to star in the film, and by January 2019 it was official: Affleck wasleavingThe Batmanaltogether.
So what happened? Why did Ben Affleck leaveThe Batman? That’s undoubtedly a complicated question, as response to Affleck’s casting inBatman v Supermanin the first place was met with hot takes aplenty. Reviews for Affleck’s performance in the eventual film were kind, but then production ofJustice Leaguewas something of a mess — directorZack Snyder’s original vision was reworked during filming due to the lackluster response toBatman v Superman, and eventuallyJoss Whedonwas hired to write and direct significant reshoots. What was intended to be a triumphant DC superhero team-up film was a genuine disaster that was released to little fanfare and a ho-hum response when the neutered version of the film finally hit theaters.
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That whole experience was certainly trying for Affleck, who you’ll recall at this point is an Oscar-winning screenwriter and producer with a successful directing career of his own. But at the time thatThe Batmanwas coming together, Affleck’s personal life was suffering, and in a candid profile in theNew York Times, the actor and filmmaker opened up about how he began drinking heavily while his marriage was falling apart:
“I drank relatively normally for a long time. What happened was that I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart. This was 2015, 2016. My drinking, of course, created more marital problems.”
Coming off the reaction toBatman v Superman, the “Sad Batman” meme from that film’s press junket, and the troubled production ofJustice League, a friend of Affleck’s cautioned against wading back into the DC waters withThe Batman:
“I showed somebody The Batman script,” Affleck recalled. “They said, ‘I think the script is good. I also think you’ll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went though again.”
Indeed, the NY Times piece says the cursed shoot forJustice League“sapped his interest” in returning as the character.Rumors swirled in the summer of 2017that Affleck was exiting the role of Batman altogether, but that news wasn’t made official until January of 2019. This is entirely conjecture on my part, but it’s possible that Affleck had already made known to Warner Bros. that he wanted out in 2017, but the studio still hadJustice Leagueand other DC films to promote and didn’t want to further dissuade audiences from buying a ticket. Hence why the actor’s exit from the role wasn’t made official until long afterJustice Leaguehad already crashed and burned at the box office and the studio had decided to move away from an interconnected universe idea.
All’s well that ends well, though. Most importantly, Affleck seems healthy and sober now, and earned great reviews for his performance in the Warner Bros. dramaThe Way Backabout a reluctant basketball coach struggling with alcoholism and the end of his marriage. Affleck says in the NY Times profile he found the experience of makingThe Way Backcathartic, and it sounds like it was likely a better use of his time than trying to appease a swath of comic book audiences with a new Batman movie.
And on that front, directorMatt Reevesis spearheadingThe Batman, which is now in production with a stacked ensemble. That film now looks to be more of a reboot than a piece of the DCEU puzzle that WB and Zack Snyder first envisioned, but sometimes life has other plans.
I’ll forever be bummed that Affleck’s unique take on Batman never fully got the movie he deserved, but you have to respect the man for bowing out ofThe Batmanaltogether for the sake of his health and his family.
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