It looks like Ben Affleck is back as Batman. Taylor Murphy from Cultured Nerd shared with LightCast Youtube channel the news about Ben Affleck’s possible singing to HBO Max for Batman projects. 

If true, then this will mean that Affleck will finally be able to develop his long-overdue Batman project. 

Back in 2015, Affleck was in talks to write and direct a standalone Batman film, The Batman, after the release of Batman V Superman. The initial plan was for the actor to make a cameo appearance in 2016’s Suicide Squad and then write and direct a Batman film. 

Affleck’s future Batman project didn’t materialize, however. Even before the release of Justice League (2017), Warner Bros. was looking in a different direction for the caped crusader. They weren’t ready for an overly darker Batman script that Affleck was developing.  

And there were also rumors of a reboot with Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) director Matt Reeves.

With the news about The Batman movie releasing in 2021, that rumor turned out to be true.

Chances For Ben Affleck Batman Reprisal

However, now it turns out that Affleck’s idea is not yet buried in a cave, as the actor is said to have got another shot at taking a crack at his Batman idea, thanks to Snyder’s Justice League. 

When Snyder’s Batman V Superman first came out in theaters in 2016, Ben Affleck was widely praised for his portrayal of the vengeful dark knight. 

This is probably the reason that HBO Max wants to bring the actor in full creative capacity in a future Batman project (as intended). For when the Snyder Cut Justice League proves successful, then audiences will undoubtedly want to see more of Affleck’s Batman that they see in the Snyder Cut. 

Affleck’s Original Batman Script

Cinematographer Robert Richardson—who worked on Affleck’s directorial Live By Night (2016) and also on Ben Affleck’s Batman script—revealed to Josh Horrowitz on Happy Sad Confused podcast about the actor’s plans to delve deeper into insanity aspects of Batman in his version. 

There was a script, but not a loved script. There was a lot of work he was doing to it to change it. He was going into the more insanity aspects. He was entering more into the Arkham (Asylum), he’s going into where everyone was bad.

What element may be sane and what element may actually not be sane. So he was entering into a little more of the Arkham, as you know, he's going into where you keep everyone who was bad, everyone that shifted and Batman.

Hence, if Affleck’s Batman were to delve deep into the Arkham (Asylum), it would surely get inspiration from the 1989 graphic novel ‘Arkham Asylum: A serious House on Serious Earth’ by Grant Morrison and Deam Mckean. The novel was one of the darkest of storylines of Batman. 

In the graphic novel, Joker leads the inmates to take over the detention center and demands that Batman turn himself over in exchange for the captured hostages. Batman accepts the demand and dives into the demented world that is filled by the likes of Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Two-face, and other of Batman’s arch-nemesis. 

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(Photo source: Interior artwork from 'Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth,'  Art by Dave McKean)

In the process of completing the demands set forth by Joker and ensure the safe release of the hostages, Batman’s own sanity is put in question.Â