What Ben Affleck’s Batman Return Means For Robert Pattinson’s Movie

With Ben Affleck now confirmed to be reprising his role as the Caped Crusader in The Flash DCEU movie, what does this mean for Robert Pattinson’s upcoming The Batman film? It’s no secret things were rough for the DCEU in the early going. With the exception of Wonder Woman, the first wave of movies were very divisive and, in the cases of Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad, fared poorly with critics. After the kerfuffle that was Justice League, the franchise underwent a change in leadership and gave up trying to emulate the MCU’s shared universe model in favor of a more loosely-connected approach.

Now, DC is turning their many live-action TV series and movies into a unified multiverse, creating an in-canon explanation for why there are multiple versions of the same DC superheroes at once. The process began earlier this year, when Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen from the DCEU came face to face with Grant Gustin’s Scarlet Speedster during the Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event. However, it will take an even bigger step forward with 2022’s The Flash DCEU film, which is confirmed to be a loose adaptation of the 2011 Flashpoint comic book storyline (wherein Barry creates an alternate timeline after traveling back in time). As part of the DCEU version of the story, Michael Keaton will reprise his role as the Caped Crusader for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns.

In a surprising announcement, it’s also been confirmed that Affleck will reprise his DCEU role as Batman in the upcoming Flash movie. Previously, the actor has essentially retired from the DCEU after Justice League, having already bowed out of directing and starring in a solo movie titled simply The Batman. That film has since been completely overhauled by writer-director Matt Reeves and now focuses on a relatively younger version of the Caped Crusader, as played by Robert Pattinson. Fortunately, thanks to DC’s multiverse, Affleck’s return shouldn’t cause any problems when it comes to continuity.

It appears the idea is for The Flash movie to give Affleck’s Batman a better sendoff than he got in the theatrical version of Justice League (with his appearance in Zack Snyder’s cut of the film still to come in 2021). The plan is still for Pattinson’s Caped Crusader to serve as the face of the franchise moving forward, presuming The Batman is a big enough success to warrant making a sequel and beyond (which it most likely will be). Thanks to DC’s multiverse, Reeves’ movie doesn’t have to try and fit into the continuity of Affleck’s previous appearances in the DCEU either, and can exist in its own separate timeline instead. It could even wind up giving rise to a mini-shared universe composed of its sequels, spinoffs, and/or HBO Max’s currently-untitled Gotham City Police Department series (which is confirmed to be set the same corner of the DC multiverse as The Batman).

That doesn’t mean Affleck’s role in The Flash movie is unimportant, either. His version of Batman was the character who recruited Miller’s Barry Allen for the Justice League in the first place, so it’s only fitting their relationship should play a role in the latter’s solo adventure. In addition to bringing a greater sense of closure to Bruce Wayne’s personal journey in the DCEU under Affleck’s watch, The Flash can also give the Oscar-winning actor-director the chance to symbolically pass the Bat-torch to Pattinson (if not somewhat literally, were Bat-Patz to end up making a cameo in the film, following his debut in The Batman). It would certainly make for a welcome change of pace from Batfleck’s tumultuous experience in the franchise up to this point, both on and-offscreen.