Ben Affleck's Batman Movie Would've Looked Into 80 Years Of The Dark Knight

James Gunn could be 10 films into his DCU saga, and the world will still wonder what might have been had Ben Affleck directed a "Batman" film of his own. Deemed even by the late great Kevin Conroy as the best live-action star to bring both Bruce Wayne and Batman to life, it's a huge shame we didn't get to see more from his take on the Dark Knight and the film he came close to directing. Ending up as one of the many casualties to get caught in development hell during the Snyderverse era of DC Universe heroes, little was known about Affleck's Bat-based project. 

In an interview with Inverse, concept designer Jay Olivia shared that he got a look at what was being prepped and shed some light on Affleck's solo "Batman" movie. Keeping quiet but ensuring not to mince his words, Olivia revealed, "I can't really say too much other than it was [expletive] awesome. It was the best. It was amazing."

According to Olivia, Affleck was diving into the depths of "Batman" lore. "Ben's story was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics but was building off of storylines in the Batman mythos over the last 80 years and approaching it from a new kind of perspective."

Donning the cape and cowl four times during his time in the DCEU, Affleck bowed out of the franchise after "The Flash." In Jay Olivia's opinion, however, it seems Warner Bros. may have missed a trick by not following through with the film. "It was very clever, and there were a lot of things about it that I really loved that I wish that had come to fruition," he recalled. "It was a really great project in the beginning. Ben had to step away for personal reasons, and I totally understood, but the time that I spent with Ben working on the project was fantastic."

With his time as Batman officially over, Affleck has made it clear he has no interest in anything DC-related and the direction James Gunn is taking the world moving forward. Given that it was set in the Snyderverse, Affleck's "Batman" would have been darker in tone and had him facing off against Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, who only appeared in the two cuts of "Justice League."

For now, the future looks bright for Gotham's great protector. Matt Reeves' "The Batman: Part II" is in production, with Robert Pattinson under the cowl again. Meanwhile, the world waits to see who will be the next Caped Crusader in the Bat's first official DCU entry, "The Brave and the Bold," which will, for the first time, reportedly bring Bruce Wayne's son, Damian, to the big screen.