It’s been previously rumored that there may be interest from AT&T in seeing Ben Affleck return as Batman for a limited series on HBO Max, but an apparent update to these brewing plans has indicated that any such production will take inspiration from an unexpected source.
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According to a new scoop by Geekosity, the phone company that owns WarnerMedia wants Affleck in the cape for a show inspired by the video game Batman: Arkham Knight.
The site reports that, like the game, Deathstroke will likely serve as the villain for the limited series, which might also delve into the mental state of the Caped Crusader as he continues to deal with the death of Robin.
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Taking into the account the premise of Rocksteady’s conclusion to their Batman trilogy, Geekosity predicts that the Robin in question will Jason Todd, who in-universe was thought to have met a similar fate to the one he suffered at the hands of The Joker in the Death in the Family story line.
“The new series may get into Batman’s head, trying to justify his actions and what he could have done to save Jason,” says the scoop.
They add Jason later showed up alive in the game and was unmasked as the titular villain, Arkham Knight, similar to how he was brought back as The Red Hood in the 2000s.
Deathstroke would allegedly fit in to the story as the one who freed Jason from Arkham, unbeknownst to his former mentor to have survived, before training and guiding him into refocusing his anger toward Batman.
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However, Geekosity might be off in this prediction, as Zack Snyder previously confirmed that the Boy Wonder killed by Joker in the Snyderverse was actually Dick Grayson. Furthermore, Snyder has also noted that Dick was replaced by Carrie Kelly in the Knightmare timeline, not Jason.
They could be right about the exploration of Batman’s psyche, though. Affleck’s script for The Batman was reportedly developed along similar lines and it’s been suggested his treatment was going to dig deeper into Arkham than ever before.
Robert Richardson, the cinematographer tapped to film The Batman, recounted in 2019 that Affleck’s script was darker than Christopher Nolan’s trilogy and further explored the man behind the Bat.
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“So, I think you would’ve seen something a little darker than what we’ve seen in the past and more into the individual, who was inside Batman — what element may be sane and what element may actually not be sane,” Richardson said.
Geekosity cautions that, though interested and wanting more from the Snyderverse post-Snyder Cut, AT&T has not pushed for the green light on anything and would need to first renegotiate with Affleck before anything could move foward.
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