Preface

• Man is that a long title…

Premise

• Okay, so if you guys haven’t heard: it broke late yesterday that Ben Affleck will not only star as Batman in the DC Cinematic Universe, but he will also direct and co-write the first Batman standalone movie.
• And I don’t 100% LOVE this news, but I’m a fan of it, I’m optimistic!

Directing

• Most people assumed from the beginning that Ben Affleck would probably direct at least one of these movies and though I think he would be perfect for Justice League, I was never certain for Batman…
• I always wanted to see David Fincher do the first standalone Batman movie and then have Affleck take over because I thought Fincher would nail the perfect tone and really set up everything Batman is about.
• You see Fincher’s movies like Seven, Fight Club, or Zodiac and you think to yourself that those would take place in Gotham City. He could essentially create an dark and disturbing movie that would still get a PG-13 rating.
• I just thought that Affleck would have a lot on his plate the first go around cuz he’d be acting as Batman and that’s a lot to do on its own.
• Having someone else do the directing, at least for the first solo movie, could help him see where the Batman solo movies might go from there so he has an idea going forward and isn’t overwhelmed the first time around.
• Because we have essentially never seen a guy play a superhero, and also direct and write that movie.
• But all of that being said, Affleck is a brilliant director, The Town is one of my all time favorite films, and I’m still hoping that he’ll make a quality movie in terms of direction.
  • The acting I’m sold on at this point, I’m just taking their word for it…

Co-Writing

• Also announced in this release is that Affleck will be co-writing the Batman solo outing with Geoff Johns, famed Batman comic writer.
• The first part is about Geoff Johns, because I’m very pleased with the choice of him co-writing.
• I would have loved to see Scott Snyder do it because he’s very involved with the writing of the New 52, and I think that the first Batman solo movie will be focused around the Court of Owls storyline, but Johns has a solid understanding of where the character comes from and how he operates from a comic-book perspective so that excites me.
• And Affleck is co-writing too!
• Some people forget and just give all the credit to Matt Damon, but Ben Affleck IS an Academy Award Winning screenwriter!
• Like I said, I LOVE The Town and Affleck created such a phenomenal story with that one alone, not to mention Good Will Hunting.
• So I am more of a fan of the writing choice, especially because this pair could develop a REALLY solid Batman script.

In Conclusion

• In Conclusion, though I thought it could be easier on Affleck to have someone else direct the first solo Batman outing, the guy is one of the best directors working today.
• So I’m sure he will put lots of time and effort into it, and produce a really interesting result.
• The writing aspect I’m super excited for, and coming off of The Dark Knight it was gonna be really hard to get me excited for a Batman solo movie but this writing team is starting to bring me on board.

***

So guys, those are my thoughts on the news that Ben Affleck is officially directing and co-writing a standalone Batman movie! What are your guys thoughs on this news? Whatever you think, let me know in the comments down below, and as always thanks for reading guys.

(I’ll probably have a lot of posts to do over the next week with Comic-Con news, so stay tuned though they won’t all appear as the news comes out, but they’ll appear eventually!)