Wonders never cease: First the triumphant return of Bennifer, and now Batfleck is primed to make an even bigger comeback to the DCEU than originally thought. THR reports tonight on an Instagram post from Aquaman star Jason Momoa, who announced—after it apparently got leaked during a studio tour that caught the actor on the film’s set—that Ben Affleck is reprising his role as Batman in the upcoming Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom.
Affleck hasn’t stepped into Bruce Wayne’s big fancy boots since 2017’s Justice League, the filming of which he once described as “the worst experience”; in the intervening years (and after Affleck’s formal retirement from the part in 2019), Warner Bros. seemed to have moved on to different bat-portunities, enlisting Michael Keaton to return to the role for The Flash, and moving ahead on Matt Reeves’ adaptation of Bats’ early days, The Batman, with Robert Pattinson in the title role. In 2020, though, Affleck appeared to do a bit of an about-face, with news breaking that he’d be coming back to the cowl for Flash.
Momoa posted a pic of himself and Affleck apparently on the film’s set, along with a caption reading “REUNITED bruce and arthur.” (The top comment, meanwhile, is for some reason from Josh Brolin, who took time out of his human life to type out “Hahahahahaha” on his old friend Momoa’s post.) (Brolin posted a picture of himself with Momoa today, too, referencing him as “Aquaman”; the pair are real-life friends, so it might just be celebrity fun times, but it might also be an indicator that Brolin’s in the movie, too.)
Warner Bros. has been pretty tight-lipped about Aquaman 2, declining to show off any footage from the film, or even any of its stars, at this year’s Comic-Con. (That might make a little more sense now.) Directed once again by James Wan, it’s currently slated for a March 2023 release; the film previously got sucked into the horrifying vortex surrounding the Amber Heard – Johnny Depp defamation case, after reports that both Momoa and Wan pushed back against the studio to keep Heard in the film even after she became a touchstone for incessant and radioactive online hate.
Affleck previously played Batman in Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Justice League, and (briefly) in Suicide Squad.
