Kevin Smith Wants a Dark Knight Returns Movie With Ben Affleck’s Batman

Kevin Smith believes his longtime friend Ben Affleck would be perfect for a live-action adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns. Currently, Affleck can be seen on the big screen reprising the role of Batman for the superhero movie The Flash. As there are no plans at this time for Affleck to reprise the role in any more films, The Flash seems to serve as a sendoff for Batfleck. With Robert Pattinson playing the character in DC Elseworlds films, and a new version of the Dark Knight set to join the DCU with The Brave and the Bold, it doesn’t seem likely that another Batman film with Affleck will be happening anytime soon.

But perhaps it could happen one day. Per ComicBook.com, Smith addressed the possibility after watching Affleck’s return as Batman in The Flash. Smith noted how unfortunate it was for Affleck to wrap up his run in the role after he was just figuring out how he wanted to portray the character. The Chasing Amy director then suggests that maybe in a decade or so, Affleck could make his long-awaited comeback as Batman for a live-action version of The Dark Knight Returns.

“Seeing Ben as Batfleck again was joyous – not only as Batfleck but as Bruce Wayne,” Smith explains “He said in a few interviews, he was like ‘Look man, I just figured out how to play this character and that character and now it’s all coming to an end. It’s kind of bittersweet. But he got that bit at the apple before it was all done because he said many times he’s never going to go back to Batman. You know, there’s a multiverse so we’ll see if that f*****g happens.”

He continued, “You know, I could see a world where ten years from now, after he’s lived a bunch of other life and done other things… I know Ben loves The Dark Knight Returns in a big bad way. Like most of us do, but like… all through [filming] Chasing Amy he read that on the floor of my condo; he slept on the couch and s**t. And he was always like ‘Why can’t somebody do this as a f*****g movie? And you know, when Zack [Snyder] did BvS, he got damn close: he got to wear the outfit [Bat-Armor] and s**t, there were elements of Dark Knight Returns.”

Personally knowing how much Affleck loves that particular Batman story, Smith confidently believes that the actor would definitely come back to the role if that’s the offer presented to him one day.

“I can’t imagine if somebody backed up a money truck ten years from now, and said to a f*****g nearly sixty-year-old Ben Affleck ‘Do you want to do The Dark Knight Returns?’ He might say ‘Yeah,’ and that would be glorious,” Smith said.

Related: 5 Reasons the DCU Should Release a Batman Beyond Movie

Will The Dark Knight Returns Get the Live-Action Treatment?

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was originally published as a four-issue miniseries in 1986. It was written by Frank Miller who illustrated alongside Klaus Janson with coloring by Lynn Varley. It tells the story of a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne returning from retirement at a time when Gotham City is in peril with the returns of supervillains like Two-Face and the Joker. The comic is among the most popular that have ever been printed for the Dark Knight.

Some elements of the comic influenced various live-action TV and films based on Batman and other DC stories, but The Dark Knight Returns hasn’t been given a live-action feature film adaptation. It was previously adapted as a two-part animated film featuring Peter Weller as the voice of Batman. The first part was released in 2012 followed by the second part in 2013.