We haven't heard much about where Batman may next turn up after Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, until now...
NewsThis story continues potential spoilers for the Suicide Squad movie.
Let's line up what we know about Batman's movie future. Ben Affleck is playing the Dark Knight in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and we'll first meet him on March 25th, 2016. Check. Jared Leto is playing Batman's biggest enemy, the Joker...but not in a Batman movie. That will come in August 2016's Suicide Squad movie. Check. We also know that even though there isn't a standalone Batman movie on the huge slate of DC superhero movies coming from Warner Bros., the studio still claims that they want to have one before 2020.
Beyond that, there ain't much.
But it's that Suicide Squad movie that may just hold the key to where Batman will pop up next. It's no secret that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is going in introduce enough characters to form a Justice League. Such is the birth of Warner Bros. newly-minted superhero cinematic universe. But where the heck are all those costumed villains gonna come from?
That's where Suicide Squadcomes in. Latino Review have a fairly detailed synopsis of the latest draft of the script. I'm not going to break it down here (by all means, go read it), but essentially, Suicide Squadwill do for the bad guys of the DCU what Batman v. Supermanis doing for the good guys. There are apparently plans to have Batman show up in Suicide Squad, but only via video footage, as Amanda Waller and Rick Flagg (who is no longer Tom Hardy, possibly because of recent script changes) have been keeping an eye on Bats for awhile. This doesn't necessarily mean Affleck has to turn up, it could turn out to be footage from BvS, for example.
We don't even know how many movies Ben Affleck has signed on for, but three is a safe bet (Dawn of Justice and two scheduled Justice Leaguemovies), and four is a possibility, assuming Warner Bros. are serious about that Batman solo movie. Forbesseems to think that the Batmansolo movie will square Affleck's Batman off with Leto's Joker in a Dark Knight Returnsinspired tale, but...isn't Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice supposedly a DKR inspired story? What's more, I have to question the wisdom of a Batman vs. Joker slugfest even tangentially associated with the words "Dark Knight" given the baggage left by Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger. So far, Warner Bros. have made a canny decision by not only casting the chameleon-like Leto in the role, but putting him in a movie that will help distance him even further from the previous iconic performance.
Affleck has been notoriously quiet about this entire affair, but he doesn't seem like an actor at a stage in his career where he's willing to do the seemingly endless commitments that Marvel require of their caped and cowled leading men and women. There's no doubt that Warner Bros. want to do a standalone Batman movie, he is, after all, their safest cinematic bet. It's just tough to imagine Mr. Affleck putting on a batsuit four times in five years. I wouldn't be surprised if we won't see anything resembling an official announcement until, at the very least, the Dawn of Justice hype machine is in full swing. That solo Batman movie could, for example, replace a riskier standalone proposition on the calendar, if needed.
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Mike Cecchini would rather see a Starman movie than another solo Batman film, to be honest. Tell him why he's wrong on Twitter.
