Rumour: AT&T wants Ben Affleck to star in Batman HBO Max mini-series

[The Laughing Fish]

We've heard about this rumour for quite some time now, so why not create a thread that's dedicated to the topic?

I remember hearing about The Cultured Nerd claiming a mini-series was being discussed and even planned several months ago, and now Mikey Sutton of Geekosity is claiming AT&T is negotiating a deal with Ben Affleck for a Batman mini-series. Surprisingly, the rumoured project is inspired by Arkham Knight.

https://geekositymag.com/att-interested-in-batman-arkham-knight-series-for-ben-affleck/

In my opinion, I do believe it's possible that AT&T wants to take advantage of fan demand to boost up the subscription numbers for HBO Max, which is a service that's screaming for original content. But assuming these rumours are true, it's going to depend on these critical factors:

• If Affleck wants to do it. Obviously.
• If AT&T can finally clean up their Warner subsidiaries and remove all the toxic naysayers who are against the Snyderverse. Theoretically, they should have a much better chance now that they have agreed to a merger with Discovery, whose CEO has declared he wants to rebuild relationships with creators and fans. Having said that, talk is cheap so we'll have to wait and see if he lives up to his promise.

I do have a hard time believing Sutton's scoop, however. His website goes back and forth about whether the Snyderverse has any hope in continuing. For example, it was only a month ago that Geekosity reported The Flash was going to erase the timeline, but now Sutton is claiming his sources have told him that AT&T have blocked The Flash production from doing such a thing. Either his sources are taking the piss out of him, or he's making it all up himself.

Another skepticism I have is the alleged Arkham Knight influence and the whole limited series format. If Affleck already has a script that was highly endorsed by Jay Oliva and Joe Manganiello on social media, why would he want to do a new project that's inspired by a different source material? And there is also the availability factor too. At the time of writing, Affleck has five more projects lined up for the next few years, according to his IMDB profile page. Two of which he is expected to direct.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000255/

Sure, none of them have a release date yet, but it doesn't sound like he'd be available for a limited series. Let alone another Batman-related project.

As much as I'd love for these rumours to be true, I'd think it's much safer to take everything with a grain of salt. Let's see how this all turns out.

[thecolorsblend]

Cost might be a reason to abandon the Deadshot concept Affleck was experimenting with. Another issue might be that he lost interest in that after, you know, 2017.

There's also the reality that he's a prime creative contributor to the Batman/Deadshot script. He'll have to be hands-on with that. As you yourself state, his availability for the next few years is already challenging. How much more challenging if he's a creative lead as well as the series lead?

Whereas some kind of Arkham thing might be something he can just show up and shoot as his schedule allows. Even that's difficult. But not necessarily impossible. Plus, stuff gets rescheduled depending on an actor's whim or availability. Happens all the time in Hollywood. I'm betting at least one of his upcoming projects can get pushed back a bit to allow for an Arkham series.

I'm not saying I believe the Arkham thing is real. In fact, I think it's a crock of $#!+ myself. But the logistics, while challenging, are not necessarily impossible. Where there's a will, there's a way.

[The Laughing Fish]

Sutton has returned with a few more alleged details.

• Affleck is reportedly a fan of the Arkharmverse video games, which apparently explains the Arkham Knight influence.
• Jason Todd is supposed to be involved in this project, and Sutton rationalises why this doesn't contradict what Snyder intended with the death of Dick Grayson's Robin. Sutton reckons he has sources telling him Affleck wants to use Jason Todd.
• Due to the disappointment over WW84, the next Wonder Woman sequel is rumoured to feature Batman and Superman, therefore reuniting the Trinity. So that would mean another Batfleck appearance, together with Cavill reprising his role as Superman, who is also rumoured to appear in Black Adam.
• Sutton reckons those in charge of these negotiations want to close these deals in time for this year's DC FanDome, which is six months from now. He says HBO Max faces increasing pressure to produce new content and compete in the streaming market; they can't afford to lose ground to the likes of Disney+.

Video (the mini-series and WW Trinity rumours start at 1:01:37):

I can kinda see how some of these details seem to have some truth behind them. The Arkham Origins game is fresh in the minds whenever one talks about Batman v Deathstroke, and WW on film faces an uncertain future thanks to the backlash surrounding WW84. I remember last year that The Cultured Nerd scooped this story about Affleck had allegedly signed a new contract to continue playing the DCEU Batman for several more times and started this whole mini-series talk, and now Sutton is more or less following their lead, albeit with different details.

But once again, I'm still very skeptical about these rumours. A lot of it sounds too good to be true. Sutton will face backlash if his predictions don't come true by the end of the year, unless he starts backtracking.

Cost might be a reason to abandon the Deadshot concept Affleck was experimenting with. Another issue might be that he lost interest in that after, you know, 2017.

There's also the reality that he's a prime creative contributor to the Batman/Deadshot script. He'll have to be hands-on with that. As you yourself state, his availability for the next few years is already challenging. How much more challenging if he's a creative lead as well as the series lead?

You mean Deathstroke, not Deadshot.

Nevertheless, I agree with your second point. Going back to what I said about Discovery/AT&T needing to clean up everything across all facets at Warner, another issue is creative control. We know now that there was still meddling and controversy surrounding ZSJL. Specifically, John Stewart's removal. Snyder even publically called out WB for being passive-aggressive towards him the other day; in fact, let's not forget he already admitted to he considered abandoning the project because the studio forced him to remove GL. I strongly doubt Affleck would want to come back to work in such a negative environment, especially after the reported abuse that happened behind the scenes of Josstice L*. Coming back to the role as a supporting character in The Flash is one thing. Getting bullied and harassed by a hostile studio when you're the director and writer is something else entirely.

But if Discovery/AT&T cleans house and removes those troublemakers, that might give Affleck the comfort he'd need to get invested. Assuming if he would even want to do this kind of project, of course.

*Speaking of Josstice L, I've read a rumour on Reddit that Affleck tried to convince the whole cast to walk out of the set as a way to protest about Whedon, but to no avail. He and Momoa have rumoured to nearly coming to blows with Whedon too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DCEUleaks/comments/hkklgq/joss_whedon_and_justice_league/

The fact that the vast majority of those rumoured incidents were confirmed in THR's Ray Fisher story a few months ago, it would definitely not surprise me if this was true as well.

[The Laughing Fish]

Here is a good effort by these guys on how Batman vs Deathstroke could look in live action.

So much potential. Sigh. Let's hope there is a possibility in Affleck's script coming to life, however remote it might be.