The cancelled The Batman film starring Ben Affleck was supposed to feature other big DC superheroes. Warner Bros. is launching a brand new version of the Caped Crusader through Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson's upcoming film. Before it became a project separate from the larger DCEU, however, the film was initially conceived as Affleck's solo movie, seeing a considerably older Dark Knight.
Introduced in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, director Zack Snyder wanted to differentiate his iteration of Bruce Wayne by debuting a more hardened version. There was initial skepticism on Affleck's ability to do the role justice, but ultimately, he proved naysayers wrong and became one of the few mostly universally loved aspects of the 2016 blockbuster. Given this, fans were understandably looking forward to seeing him in his own solo film that he was supposed to both direct and star in. But following Affleck's exit from the DCEU, Reeves took over the project and decided to rework its story, focusing it on a much younger Bruce Wayne who's just on his second year as the Gotham vigilante.
Much has been said about Affleck's scrapped Caped Crusader film, and now Reeves is revealing more details about it while promoting The Batman. In a new interview with EW, the cancelled flick had a script written by Geoff Johns, Chris Terrio, and Affleck and promised an "action-based James Bondian" narrative. It was intrinsically tied to the DCEU, and so "other big superheroes" were lined up to appear. Reeves didn't think the original was bad, but he just didn't have any personal connection to that narrative so he decided to change the narrative's direction. Unfortunately, he didn't name-drop any other franchise characters who were supposed to be in Affleck's Batman standalone.
This isn't the first time that Reeves spoke about this particular point in the process of directing The Batman. In a previous interview, he cited his disinterest in making a solo superhero film that's burdened by connections to the DCEU, which was the original plan for the movie. Since the original story was part of Warner Bros.' larger superhero franchise, it made sense that Affleck and his co-writers wanted to tie it to the bigger universe it exists in. After all, the idea for the DCEU is to be the direct competition for Marvel Studios' MCU, which has thrived with its interconnected storytelling. Luckily for Reeves, he was able to pitch his own version of a Dark Knight storyline that isn't beholden to the established canon in the DCEU since Pattinson's The Batman exists in an entirely different reality.
Based on what's known about Affleck's The Batman, Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke was supposed to be a primary villain. Given his ties to Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), it's possible that he was also going to make an appearance. As for the DCEU heroes, assuming that the story took place after the events of Justice League, anyone from that roster could easily have popped in and interacted with Bruce, especially since the Hall of Justice was meant to be established in the Wayne Manor estate. Unfortunately, all fans can do is speculate at this point.
Source: EW
