It was all quiet on The Batman front for a while – the long-mooted first standalone Batman movie in the DC Extended Universe. But a flurry of new information has firmed the project up – following THR’s interview with director Matt Reeves, claiming that it’ll be a “noir” take on the character going back to his detective roots with a whole Rogues Gallery of villains, it now has a confirmed release date.
According to Deadline, The Batman will arrive in cinemas on 25 June 2021, just a couple of months before James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad hits on 6 August. Between those two films and Birds Of Prey, which began shooting this week and dropped a teaser to prove it, the DCEU’s slate is beginning to fill up again.
As well as a release date, we now also know that Ben Affleck will not be the Batman of the title – as rumoured, The Batman will focus on a younger version of Bruce Wayne, meaning Hollywood is now on the hunt for a new Caped Crusader. That’s not to entirely rule out the possibility of Affleck popping up elsewhere in the DCEU, but the focus will be on a fresh incarnation of the Bat.
It all points to exciting forward motion in the world of DC – while Affleck was among the highlights of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, here’s hoping the director of the final two Apes movies and the original Cloverfield has cooked up something smart and entertaining for one of the world’s most beloved superheroes.
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