Ben Affleck Reportedly Replacing Michael Keaton as Batman in Aquaman 2

Jason Momoa shocked DC fans recently when he announced that Ben Affleck would return as Batman/Bruce Wayne in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Affleck last played the caped crusader in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) and will also appear alongside fellow Batman Michael Keaton in The Flash.

Ben Affleck is now set to make another DC Extended Universe appearance as Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which per reports, is due to continuity issues arising from the release date reshuffling of the DC Films’ roster. The Flash and Aquaman 2 were both slated to hit the screen this year but were delayed to 2023. While an exact reason has yet to be revealed, the Warner Bros. Discovery merger and the involvement of the problematic stars Ezra Miller and Amber Heard in the movies are touted as potential reasons behind the postponement.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will now arrive on March 17, 2023, three months before The Flash, which will debut on June 23. Michael Keaton originally cameoed in Aquaman 2, but per several insiders, the test audiences were left confused by his inclusion, as he was supposed to be introduced in The Flash originally. And this apparently opened the door for Ben Affleck’s return. Grace Randolph and KC Walsh have confirmed the news, but like always, take them with a grain of salt.

And as for Affleck’s DCEU future, there are still no plans for his grim, burly Batman, especially now that SnyderVerse has also been scrapped. Michael Keaton will play an aging, serious Batman in the main DC timeline, with Robert Pattinson playing a younger version of the masked vigilante in The Batman series. It seems there just isn’t a place for Ben Affleck’s Batman to fit into the DC Extended Universe anymore, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will probably set up his return and eventual farewell in The Flash. However, it is rumored that Affleck is rethinking his DCEU retirement.

Related: DC Fans React to Ben Affleck Returning as Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Ben Affleck Is Excited To Return In The Flash

Ben Affleck has confirmed multiple times that he’s done playing Batman in the DCEU and is just fulfilling his prior commitments, but he just can’t seem to bring himself to say goodbye to the character. Owing to personal struggles and the behind-the-scenes mess of Justice League, Affleck exited his solo Batman movie in 2019, which he was also going to direct.

Robert Pattinson was soon cast in The Batman, with Matt Reeves directing from an entirely different script. And Michael Keaton was then announced to be reprising his role as the iconic superhero from 1989’s Batman in The Flash. But for some reason, barely a year after stepping down as Batman, Affleck decided to return in The Flash and also shot new scenes for Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

Could a change in WB and DC Films management have prompted Affleck’s decision? Or perhaps the Warner Bros. Discovery merger did, since the new CEO David Zazlav has big plans for the superhero franchise. In any case, Affleck is excited to don the cape and cowl again in The Flash and had a much different (less stressful) experience shooting the film than he did on Justice League, or so he told Variety last October.

“It was a really nice way to revisit that as the prior experience had been difficult. This was really lovely. Really fun. I had a great time… I’m probably under some gag order that I’m not even aware that I probably just violated and I’m now going to be sued… I love Ezra [Miller] and I had a chance to see Jason [Momoa], who’s over there [in the UK] making [Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom].”