It’s been rumored for a while, but now Warner Bros. has finally managed to roll a big enough wheelbarrow full of cash convinced Oscar-winning director Ben Affleck to direct and star in the first new stand-alone Batman movie of the new DC cinematic universe, from a script by DC Comics’ Geoff Johns.


Johns is of course DC’s Chief Creative Officer, the guy they put on all the big comic titles (including Justice League and Superman), and an occasional scriptwriter for several DC shows including Arrow and The Flash. He also developed CBS’ Supergirl series, so in terms of live-action DC entertainment, he’s on a bit of a roll. Plus, he and Affleck are BFFs—from Deadline:

My studio sources tell me that Affleck and Johns are well in synch and have more than found their rhythm. In fact, they are likely to turn in a script before the end of the summer, prior to Affleck going off to direct Live By Night in November. Affleck postponed that pic to star in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Batman movie would shoot after he finishes Live By Night, and the plot would reflect the Batman character that emerges after Batman V Superman and Justice League, the latter of which comes out November 17, 2017. DC and Warner Bros have set a long list of superhero movies that take the Marvel formula of interspersing characters from one film to the next, so it’s unclear when Affleck’s Batfilm will be slotted. But it will clearly take priority and other movies might have to move to get out of its way.


A Batman movie directed by Affleck? The executives at Warner Bros. have to be high-fiving each other with cocaine-covered hands over this. My concern is that Affleck likes dark and gritty crime stories way more than Nolan ever did—could he possibly bring something new to the chaarcter that we haven’t seen in theaters?