Ben Affleck will return as Bruce Wayne in Ezra Miller’s “The Flash” movie, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.
Affleck last played Wayne in 2017’s “Justice League.” According to Vanity Fair, who first reported the news, Affleck got the script at the end of last week and agreed this week to join the project.
According to an insider with knowledge of the project, conversations with Affleck started in the last couple of months to pique his interest in joining the “The Flash.” Before committing, Affleck had notes on the script which were addressed in the draft given to him last week, and he finally agreed to join the project in the last couple of days. Additionally, Affleck will suit up once again as Batman in the movie. Also of note, there will be no other films with Affleck’s Batman or an HBO MAX show as has been rumored online amongst fanboy outlets. Matt Reeves upcoming “The Batman” will not be affected and Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is still viewed as the future of the franchise.
Director Andrés Muschietti elaborated to Vanity Fair in an interview on what Affleck’s return means to “The Flash.”
“His Batman has a dichotomy that is very strong, which is his masculinity–because of the way he looks, and the imposing figure that he has, and his jawline –but he’s also very vulnerable,” Muschietti said. “He knows how to deliver from the inside out, that vulnerability. He just needs a story that allows him to bring that contrast, that balance.”
“He’s a very substantial part of the emotional impact of the movie. The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level that we haven’t seen before,” Muschietti added. “It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but their characters are more related than we think. They both lost their mothers to murder, and that’s one of the emotional vessels of the movie. That’s where the Affleck Batman kicks in.”
Ben Affleck’s Batman is not the only Batman to return, as Michael Keaton is still in talks to return to the role of Batman from the 1989 Tim Burton film, as TheWrap first exclusively reported.
The plot of “The Flash” will introduce general audiences to the idea of the multiverse, one of the of core concepts underpinning DC Comics. For the non fanboy set, the multiverse refers to a shifting number of alternate universes that coexist within the larger reality depicted in DC comics. Originally created to explain various contradictory changes the company’s characters experienced over decades, it allows several different versions of the same characters to simultaneously exist and, occasionally, interact.