New concept art for Ben Affleck's canceled Batman film has been revealed by storyboard artist Jay Oliva, who worked on the movie. The image depicts Batman locked in combat with Deathstroke, previously cast with Joe Manganiello in the role, on a rooftop. The art was shared in honor of Batman Day 2024, which marks 85 years of the Caped Crusader.
Oliva, a long-time collaborator with Zack Snyder, collaborated with Affleck and then-DC Entertainment President Geoff Johns on the scrapped DCEU film. Snyder stepping away from Justice League led to Warner Bros reworking the film. As a result, the introduction of Deathstroke was changed from being contracted by Lex Luthor to kill Bruce Wayne to forming the Legion of Doom, which disrupted the setup of Affleck's script. Due partly to these creative differences, Affleck departed the project, and Matt Reeves was brought in to direct. Oliva's art gives fans a glimpse into what could have been had Affleck's Batman film been made.
What The Batman's Storyboard Art Means For Ben Affleck's Lost Movie
Deathstroke And Batman Would Have Gone Toe-To-Toe
At the end of Zack Snyder's Justice League, the post-credit scene was originally meant to lead directly into Affleck's Batman movie. Luthor sends Deathstroke after Bruce Wayne to get revenge for being put in prison by Superman and Batman. Oliva, who also worked as a consultant for DC due to his extensive superhero knowledge, said Affleck's Batman script was "f****** awesome." In an interview with Inverse, he further explained:
I've worked on a lot of Batman things and what was really cool about it was, it was tying together a lot of really cool Batman storylines that had never been really explored. Ben's story was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics but was building off of storylines in the Batman mythos over the last 80 years and approaching it from a new kind of perspective.
Silva's art teases an action-packed rooftop battle between the Dark Knight and Deathstroke. If his words are anything to go by, Affleck's film emphasized both action and story. It's a shame audiences never got to see Affleck's vision for a clash between Batman and Deathstroke.
Our Take: Affleck's Batman Was A Major Missed Opportunity
A Live-Action Deathstroke Versus Batman Showdown Would Have Been Epic
Ben Affleck is an Oscar-winning director and writer, something not often brought up when discussing his Batman. While the film would have been action-packed as Oliva's art shows, Affleck likely prioritized the plot and characters as well. Adding in Manganiello as Deathstroke completed the recipe for an interesting movie, as it would have been the character's live-action debut on the big screen. Choosing a character like Deathstroke as the villain for a Batman project allows for parallels. Neither have superpowers, both have complicated relationships with their children, and each of them has a unique skillset grounded in realism.
Affleck being unable to make the Batman versus Deathstroke film he wanted is a huge missed opportunity that robbed fans of what could have been a great movie. Obviously, Robert Pattinson's The Batman was born out of Affleck's DC development hell, but fans continue to campaign for his movie to be revived as indication of how much hype there was around it. The DC universe has moved on from Affleck and the DCEU, but scrapping his Batman film will always be one of DC's biggest what-ifs.
