Ben Affleck's The Batman would take inspiration from Arkham Origins

As is already known, before passing into the hands of Matt Reeves the project for the new The Batman was started by Ben Affleck, who in addition to returning in the role of the dark knight after Batman V Superman would have directed and written the film together with Geoff Johns. Affleck then stepped aside regarding direction and writing to focus on the lead's interpretation. Later, probably due to differences of vision with Warner Bros., who had in the meantime radically changed his perspective on cinecomic, he decided to leave the part completely.

In its first draft, the main antagonist of The Batman would have to be Deathstroke, whom we had already seen briefly played by Joe Manganiello in the Justice League post credits scene.

The actor recently revealed that one of Ben Affleck's sources of inspiration for his The Batman was the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, developed by WB Games Montréal and released in 2013. In the game Batman Black Mask puts a heavy bounty on Batman's head, which is then targeted by Gotham's best assassins, including of course Deathstroke.

Joe Manganiello said his role in the film was backed by executive producers and Zack Snyder. Following his official involvement, he met with Ben Affleck to talk about the film. The then director specifically showed him a CG footage made by Tim Miller (who would later direct Deadpool), which showed a frantic fight between Batman and Deathstroke. After that the two would talk about the style of the action scenes in general.

It seems we will never see the film as Ben Affleck imagined it, despite his authorial references seemed to be truly inspired.

We will still be seeing Ben Affleck as Batman in the upcoming Zack Snyder's Justice League. The new The Batman starring Robert Pattinson should be released on March 4, 2022.

If you are a fan of DC heroes and want to prepare for Zack Snyder's version of Justice League, we recommend the Ultimate version of Batman V Superman, available on Amazon in a spectacular Mondo steelbook at this link.