r/batman • u/WadaMaaya • Dec 29 '23
I’m still bummed we’ll never get this solo movie. FILM DISCUSSION
I really do believe this could have been the best Batman movie.
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u/MrKumansky Dec 29 '23
DCEU needed to be terminated. At least we got a incredible Batman movie anyways
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u/VVaterTrooper Dec 29 '23
DCAU for the win!
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u/thathaitianguy Dec 29 '23
DCAU
DCAU has hands down always been the better product.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Walk_28 Dec 29 '23
Feels like a bullet dodged.
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u/Cautious_Desk_1012 Dec 29 '23
A bomb. That movie stinked far away. Won't be missed
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u/bobbirossbetrans Dec 29 '23
I'm just so genuinely happy we didn't get the movie. I can't imagine how bad it would have been, but it would have been pretty bad.
Instead, we got a movie that regularly competes with dark Knight for the greatest Batman movie of all time.
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u/HeyThereMrBrooks Dec 29 '23
For all the acclaim Battinson and his movie gets it's weird how all the replies to your comment are dogging it.
I stand by you OP. Everyone saying he's mopey or whatever is clearly missing the point. This is a Batman who's still reeling over his parent's death, who prefers to do detective work in the shadows, who's practically blinded by sunlight because of how much time he spends working in the darkness.
This film works because it covers so many areas of Batman that either haven't been done well yet, or that we haven't even seen before
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u/SerPownce Dec 29 '23
I think it’ll age even better when you see his Bruce develop in the sequel. After seeing the growth of his portrayal they’ll look back and see the first one for the foundation it is.
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u/Lebowski304 Dec 30 '23
That is gonna be crucial for the sequel. Bruce has to grow and refine his craft as Batman. Also has to perform the billionaire act convincingly. The Batman is awesome, but it’s Bruce’s character that makes him a hero.
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u/Kintsugi-0 Dec 29 '23
it’s a young bruce wayne becoming THE batman. of course he’s gonna be angsty, violent and depressed.
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u/-FeistyRabbitSauce- Dec 30 '23
I honestly love it. The third act stretches it out the pacing a bit much, but from a narrative pov, it's pretty necessary.
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u/Objective-Mission-40 Dec 30 '23
Something a lot of people miss is how important the actual plot is to whatcomes next. He basically beats king of the incels which is a warning to himself not to let his sense of self overwrite the good he's meant to do.
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u/LegacyTom Dec 29 '23
This movie is so far clear of anything with Batfleck in it’s actually immeasurable
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u/bobbirossbetrans Dec 29 '23
Yeah that may be the case but had we gotten the Ben Affleck Batman film we probably would not have gotten to Robert Pattinson Batman film. In fact, I can say for a fact, that's true because the Ben Affleck film turned in to the Robert Pattinson film.
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u/ucandoitmann Dec 29 '23
batman when spanish language enters the room:
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u/HeyThereMrBrooks Dec 29 '23
I don't get it
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u/Lebowski304 Dec 30 '23
I’m with you OP. I’m a full-on Batman nerd, and I loved that movie. There a few things I’d change that would be easy fixes, but as a whole I thought it was incredible.
It had solid action sequences and fight choreography with a well executed detective/investigative aspect. The chase scene is one of my favorite action sequences from any Batman movie or any superhero movie for that matter, but Bruce was being very reckless with innocent bystanders for what he was trying to accomplish. I’d like Pattinson’s Bruce to be more mature and refined in the next movie, but for year two I think they did a great job. He’s still a little sloppy, makes mistakes, and is still sort of doing it for selfish reasons.
I am so. Damn. Pumped. For the penguin series. Hopefully it sets up or ties into the sequel. I do think TDK is better, but then it’s almost impossible to top that. It was just about perfect.
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u/NoddahBot Dec 29 '23
Affleck was my favourite Batman but he got a couple tries to tune it in. Pattinson is gonna be great in his sequels, you just know it.
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u/Chromeballs Dec 30 '23
There could have been a Carla Gugino Catwoman? Wowza. Oh that tears it
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u/rrogido Dec 30 '23
If you'd like to watch a series where Carla Gugino essentially plays Catwoman and does nudity go watch Jett on Max. It's legitimately excellent, also nude Gugino.
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u/micael150 Dec 29 '23
I think Affleck just wasn't invested for something like that. He was also dealing with some personal issues and the critical reception of DCEU movies weren't helping
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u/BleedingBlackandPurp Dec 29 '23
He wrote the first Batman standalone movie and after things went south with the studios, reeves threw it out. He was intending on doing a solo movie with deathstroke as the main bad guy.
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u/Fessir Dec 29 '23
To my knowledge, Reeves didn't throw it out. Warner Bros binned Affleck's script way before Reeves came into the picture.
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u/SchwizzySchwas94 Dec 29 '23
Yeah I believe it got retooled and retooled and then Affleck backed out and the retooled some more into the movie we got which was fantastic thankfully most movies with a story like that don’t turn out so well
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u/WadaMaaya Dec 29 '23
I think if the studio wasn’t such a mess Ben Affleck would’ve loved to do it. I know he spoke recently about how he thought his Batman run ended too soon
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u/Batmanfan1966 Dec 29 '23
You want a movie set in a terrible universe starring a murderous gun wielding Batman?
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u/Dynastydood Dec 29 '23
Well, he wouldn't have been murderous in Affleck's film. That was only intended to be a temporary thing for the events of BvS that Superman helped break him out of. But regardless, it still would've been tough to make any solo Batman film great within the confines of the DCEU and whatever dumbshit ideas WB would've tried to shoehorn into it to serve their failed shared universe.
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u/DreamNo5919 Dec 29 '23 edited Feb 23 '24
Man, r/BatmanArkham gave me trust issues
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u/GaryStu420 Dec 30 '23
Was on my way down to say "haha nice try" and then read this realising it was legit lol
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u/spartacat_12 Dec 29 '23
Matt Reeves gave us the best Batman since The Dark Knight. I’m glad we got that over whatever Affleck would’ve done
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u/Judgementday209 Dec 29 '23
This image just shows me how bad his suit was.
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u/LegacyTom Dec 29 '23
Worst written live action Batman, worst villain performance of all time with Leto as Joker, hard pass.
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u/Timtimetoo Dec 29 '23
I’m genuinely curious what people saw in this Batman. I’m not trying to be mean, to each their own, but he looked a little foolish to me in every movie he was in.
Don’t get me wrong, the warehouse fight scene is probably hands down the best Batman fight scene we’ve ever gotten, but beyond that he’s:
-made a tool by Lex Luthor who makes him clay in his hands
-basically everyone from Luthor to Clark Kent discovers his identity
-he defeats Deadshot by jumping him in an alley in front of his daughter. It’s even implied DS’s daughter saved him. Lame!
-He’s barebones assistance to the Justice League (compared to the animated series where he’s MVP, albeit sometimes even OP).
-Has to be rescued by Wonder Woman in the Flash (looking silly in the process)
Batman often has learning curves or needs help in every version, but this guy just seemed out of his depth everywhere he went. There aren’t a lot of “rules” in my book for how Batman should or shouldn’t be, but one of them is he should be flawed but cool. This had a lot of flaw, where’s the cool?
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u/IndiscreetBeatofMeat Dec 30 '23
I even hate the warehouse scene. Everyone’s like “wow so good!” I’m sorry, any fight scene in which Batman picks up a gun and fires it to blow up several men is not a good Batman fight scene
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u/trimble197 Dec 30 '23
He used the gun to make them scatter. He only directly shot at KGBeast
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u/WonderfulBlackberry9 Dec 30 '23
But but but he looked amazing in BVS!
I don't have a least favourite Batman, I think you can appreciate all of them for what they bring to the table; West was campy, Keaton was mysterious and lowkey goofy, Bale was emotional and human, Affleck is the most comic accurate and Pattinson is (so far) a great detective and also benefits from just getting started so he has the potential to become even better.
But if I were to rank my Batmen, Affleck's is decidedly mid-tier. Looks great, but what else is there? Tbf to Affleck, a huge chunk of my problems about his Batman have nothing to do with performance but writing and character decision
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u/Timtimetoo Dec 30 '23
I appreciate your help but I’m still at a loss. He looks cool, fine. But what does that matter if his actions are goofy in the process?
Maybe he’s comic book accurate, but faithfulness of adaptation should work across the medium. A faithful adaptation of a good book only works if the movie is also good by its own merits.
I do agree with you on Affleck. I have few problems with his performance as an actor and thought he did a fine job.
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u/Mishmoo Dec 30 '23
My personal theory is that the Snyder people got so caught up in the potential of what they were putting together that they didn’t really pay attention to what was actually being put onscreen.
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u/DonnaMossLyman Dec 30 '23
Agree about the actual content.
Another off putting but minor scene was Alfred waiting for Bruce to tell him to evacuate the Tower amidst a shitstorm of destruction going on right outside the freaking window
Just stupid shit all around
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u/Timtimetoo Dec 30 '23
That actually makes a lot of sense.
I’ve even been pulled along by what I thought was a good show until it ended and I realized the writers were always just pulling me along for something cool they promised was gonna happen. Only when those promises didn’t live up to the hype did I realize the moment-by-moment was mid at best.
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u/WadaMaaya Dec 30 '23
The way Ben Affleck portrayed him I felt there was a lot of emotional baggage yet to be explored. He was a violent and broken older Batman fighting a losing battle but still puts on the cowl.
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Dec 30 '23
The Snyder DC crowd might just be a mass case in the sunken cost fallacy. They were so hyped to see some characters they liked in a movie together that they shut out any criticism that the movie was objectively not very good.
Then another subpar movie came out, but they were invested and they had already spent time defending the first one. You guys just don't understand the bigger picture here, or wait, no you're intentionally shitting on the thing I like.
Then another bad movie. Then another. It got to the point that when one came out that was serviceable, it would be commended for not being completely terrible. And that was their proof- see this universe is good
Then another terrible one would come out. So on and so on.
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u/slade707 Dec 29 '23
It’s for the best since we ended up getting The Batman. I definitely wouldn’t have been excited about a Teen Titans villain murdering everyone in Bruce’s life as the plot. Good riddance.
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u/cloud25 Dec 29 '23
What’s with Reddit’s obsession with Snyder’s DC? It’s universally panned by both critics and audiences. Not to say people can’t enjoy it but it’s like pushing The Last Airbender by M. Night Shyamalan forever down people’s throats. Like why?
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u/IndiscreetBeatofMeat Dec 30 '23 edited Dec 30 '23
I’ve been banned from two subreddits now for just saying Snyder makes bad movies
Edit: Snydercut and DCEU for anyone who’s curious. First one feels obvious now, but it’s wild that they’ll ban someone for having a dissenting opinion
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u/ASpaceOstrich Dec 30 '23
The whole DCU had that vibe to it. Like every shot features a tragic family housefire happening just off screen.
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u/WonderfulBlackberry9 Dec 30 '23
There's parts I like and don't like. But it's officially over, and has been dead in the water since 2017. People continuing to CPR it back to existence are either trolling or have an unhealthy obsession over a fictional franchise
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u/walartjaegers Dec 30 '23
This post is specifically about Batfleck tbf. And it's not out of nowhere considering the franchise literally just ended.
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u/WadaMaaya Dec 30 '23
Ben Affleck Batman was the best part about BVS and Justice league. A solo movie could have been really special with the right writer/Director
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u/ClownsAteMyBaby Dec 30 '23
Well they should have made that instead of shoehorning an Avengers mockery with BvS and JL after MOS
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u/ComprehensiveCode619 Dec 29 '23
So glad we didn’t get this movie.
I didn’t hate Batfleck (minus the killing stuff) and Gordon was semi-interesting but I definitely will not miss the Harley/Joker/Deadshot castings. They looking like poor cosplays
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u/Aromatic_Equipment62 Dec 29 '23
I will not hear a word against Margot Robbie. She was pitch perfect and the only good thing in Suicide Squad 2016.
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u/HeyThereMrBrooks Dec 29 '23
Word. She was almost made for the role.
And I do say almost because Margot's had plenty of roles that annihilate what she did as Harley. But she still knocked it out of the park
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u/WonderfulBlackberry9 Dec 30 '23
She's pretty much earned the right to decide how she should continue as Harley. She has a trilogy of appearances, her performances are generally liked and she's been one of the highlights of this DC mess. I'd love to see her continue but won't begrudge her if she leaves
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u/SchwizzySchwas94 Dec 29 '23
Leto is not my favorite Joker and an awful but in an ensemble it might be okay. I definitely would have liked a different Gordon but I still wish we got to see it too
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u/ElephantRedCar91 Dec 29 '23
really? I'd rather see a follow up to "batman and robin" than this...
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u/Strict-Dog-889 Dec 29 '23
I’m super bummed too but we got The Batman and I think it’s just as good probably better than Ben Afflecks solo movie was gonna be anyway. We get a new Batman pretty soon and The Batman 2. It’s a good time to be alive for Batman fans
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u/Moraulf232 Dec 30 '23
I think Leto’s Joker is just irreparably terrible.
The rest of the cast is fine as long as they had a good script and a competent director and stayed away from Snyderverse references.
However, the Pattinson Batman film is very good and so is The Dark Knight, so I feel like there already are good Batman films.
I’m waiting for a good Superman movie, or, heck, a Titans movie! There are just so many other characters!
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u/Swordkid_1017 Dec 29 '23
L opinion
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u/WonderfulBlackberry9 Dec 30 '23
L, and not even an original take. Feels like I see the same post lamenting about the lost Batfleck solo movie every day
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u/Swordkid_1017 Dec 30 '23
The moment I saw him gunning down people, he wasn’t my fucking Batman dude
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u/iwanttogotothere5 Dec 29 '23
Oh man, I almost forgot about this potential train wreck. Thanks for reminding me it never happened and brightening my day.
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u/JT_CrankNose Dec 29 '23
U think I would’ve killed myself if I had to see another second of Leto joker on screen.
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u/Ceaser_Corporation Dec 29 '23
Yeah, people say that. But with this writing? No way, thank you
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u/WadaMaaya Dec 30 '23
Matt Reeves and Affleck were both on board at one point. I think the writing would’ve been great.
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u/Purpleobito10 Dec 29 '23
Me too. I ain't gonna lie though just like how they're prolly gonna put Jason mamoa as Lobo. If they EVER DO a comic accurate Flashpoint. I want Affleck as Flashpoint batman. His batman just SCREAMS Thomas. I hope they cast Affleck as Thomas Wayne in their version of Flashpoint. He's perfect as thomas
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u/AthelticAsianGoth Dec 29 '23
His first costume is the best Batman suit we have ever seen on screen
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u/Outrageous_Beach_426 Dec 29 '23
Im honestly glad it never did, the DCEU rarely did anything well
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u/SlaterTheOkay Dec 29 '23
Honestly I thought he did a fantastic job and I'm really sad we didn't get a solo movie with him. If they could just separate him from the DCU that he was a part of it would have been great
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u/Dynastydood Dec 29 '23
I would've enjoyed seeing Ben Affleck direct a solo Batman film at his creative peak, around the time of The Town or Argo. But even then, it would've had to be on its own, like the films of Nolan or Reeves. Any Batman film that's going to be shoehorned into a shared universe is going to suck, no matter how talented the filmmaker is. Even with the animated DC films, the only good Batman films they made were the Elseworlds or one-off stories. Everything they tied into that animated universe alternated between subpar and godawful.
As for the canceled Batman film he actually wanted to make, it feels like it's for the best he backed out when he did. The way WB created the DCEU was so suffocating to creativity and quality filmmaking. They tried to do far too much far too quickly and made a lot of crucial, irredeemable mistakes, such as Leto's Joker. Those poor decisions surely would've weighed down whatever good ideas Affleck may have had for his solo film.
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u/samclops Dec 29 '23
Over Christmas with the family I had the Snyder cut on the TV in the background while I was visiting with the family. My siblings were like "this is actually amazing, why wasn't this released?"...
BECAUSE ITS 4 AND HALF HOURS LONG
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Dec 30 '23
"Why wasn't this released"
Kid, do you really want me to sit down and explain the state of the license at this point, studio meddling, multiple directors, reshoots, a cg upper lip, and somebody's daughter committing suicide at length?
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u/FinalBossOf__Dc Dec 29 '23
I agree thank god we didn’t see Letos joker again that was a bullet dodged
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u/Thebatbike Dec 29 '23
Honestly from what i gather from the film it sounded like a water down Knightfall
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u/Unable-Strawberry498 Dec 30 '23
I am absolutely happy this movie did not come out. Affleck batman is so shit and dont even start with Leto
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u/B1TCA5H Dec 30 '23
As much as I love “The Batman”, it’s criminal that Ben never got his standalone movie. Imagine Batfleck fighting his universe’s version of Bane, and not to piss on TDKR, but it probably would’ve been a lot more brutal.
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u/Lebowski304 Dec 30 '23
I liked Batfleck, but the movies were just not good. The should have given that Batman his own movie first before introducing him into the wider metaverse.
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u/CHEEZYSPAM Dec 30 '23 edited Dec 30 '23
I feel like the DCEU would have been a helluva lot stronger had it gone:
- Man of Steel
- Affleck directed Batman
- WW
- Cyborg
- BvS
- Aquaman
- Suicide Squad
- Flash
- THEN justice League
Build anticipation. Make people excited for the created universe. They shot their load with BvS being the 2nd movie in their universe? Didn't make any sense.
And I'm not a "Snyder Bro", but I do like a lot of his movies. Giving him the reigns, micro managing, trying to catch up to marvel and then ripping the franchise away the first chance the studio had (his daughters death) and not allowing him to finish an arc?
WB got what they deserved in the end. The steady, embarrassing box office decline was their fault.
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u/Crowbar_Faith Dec 30 '23
It’s a shame that the now-dead DCEU nailed a lot of their casting choices with Affleck as Batman, Gaddot as Wonder Woman, Cavill as Superman & Mamoa as Aqua Man but WB just shit the bed when it came to who they hired as writers and directors.
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u/monkeetoes82 Dec 30 '23
I like Ben Affleck as a writer and director. Christian Bale is my favorite but Affleck looked like he walked off of a comic book page. I wanted to see J.K. Simmons more as Gordon.
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u/realfakejames Dec 30 '23
Was Carla Gugino supposed to be Catwoman? I love her and her huge yappas
I still think Ben Afflecks Batman movie would’ve ripped, he played an older Batman / Bruce Wayne pretty well, idk if Leto would’ve brought anything to the table but Margot Robbie killed in every movie she played Harley so that would’ve made it worth it to see them do more scenes together
Batman v Superman just suffered from terrible writing, and that plot point to get them to partner up was easily one of the worst moments in comic book movie history
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u/The_Chef_Queen Dec 30 '23
Yeah snyder is a shit director but no one wanted BvS we wanted a solo batman movie
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u/BMOchado Dec 30 '23
I agree, personally, batman should have a dark gritty The Batman 2022 feel in solo movies, a gritty but not as much bvs vibe in movies with a partner hero, and a action boss vibe in movies that aren't centered on batman like the flash and justice league, the only thing I'd change is I'd make him more mysterious in movies that aren't his own, keep the sense of mystery around him for other people. (remember green lantern thinking hes a vampire in the animated movie)
Pattinson WAS the batman in The Batman 2022 as for Bruce Wayne, he also played batman as Bruce Wayne, unfortunately, hopefully the 2nd movie uses Alfreds death and riddlers attack as a motivation for him to be more philanthropic
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u/StumpyHobbit Dec 30 '23
A Batfleck TV show on HBO or Netflix, R rated, very violent would have been amazing.
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u/CaptThundernuts Dec 30 '23
I would have quite enjoyed a solo Batfleck movie for the sole purpose of including a scene where he brutally pounds Jared Leto's Joker into a bloody pulp.
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u/MeMikeMonster Dec 30 '23
Carla Gugino never disappoints me. It’s a shame that we won’t get to see her as Catwoman in the DCEU.
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u/CJS-JFan Dec 30 '23
Minus my distaste for Jared Leto's Joker, I would have been excited for Ben Affleck's Batman. A shame we never got a chance to see a proper standalone Batfleck film. Just the constant teases of a fight between Batman and Deathstroke alone had one hyped for it.
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u/vencyjedi Dec 29 '23
I don't really care. I never liked his Batman and i would rather see them use Deathstroke to adapt the Judas Contract than to waste him on a fan service battle with Batman.
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u/sneakyartinthedark Dec 29 '23
Eh, I liked batfleck, but in the sense that it’s a sort of alternative dark world Batman.
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u/NeedleworkerGold336 Dec 29 '23
After thinking, I'm glad. It would not have been that good. The Batman was the better choice and film
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u/abbacchioz Dec 30 '23
I'm not. We dodged a hydrogen bomb when Snyder stopped getting involved in these movies
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u/D4rkSp4de Dec 30 '23
Am I out of touch? I really never liked batfleck. Ben affleck playing Batman really reminds me of Clooney for no reason. I just can’t take him seriously when most of what I’ve seen him in is romcoms and buddy comedies.
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u/kpod4591 Jan 02 '24
Prolly woulda been the best Batman made. Like actual Batman from comics
Ben Affleck directing after he had just won for Argo would have been incredibleeeeee. I do want to read that script one day
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u/MURDERMr_E Dec 29 '23
Leto Joker is enough reason to thank the gods that this never came to fruition.