By Owen Williams | Posted 3 Jan 2017

It was an open secret for months, but a solo outing for Ben Affleck's Batman was officially announced by studio Warner Bros. last April, as Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice arrived. Since then we've learned that the working title is The Batman; that Affleck is himself at work on the script with DC boss Geoff Johns; and that Joe Manganiello has been cast as the villainous Deathstroke. It all seemed to be moving forward efficiently... but Affleck has now revealed that he may have cooled his bat-boots a little.

Specifically, asked by The Guardian whether, as widely reported, he's planning to direct as well as write and star, Affleck replied: "That’s the idea. But it’s not a set thing and there’s no script. If it doesn’t come together in a way I think is really great I’m not going to do it."

It's a short line in a longer interview about something else (Live By Night, his latest film as director), so it's probably a mistake to read too much into it but this could indicate that the cowl is losing some of its lustre for Affleck. Last we heard, The Batman's pre-production was underway and a shoot in the spring of this year was on the cards. So if there's really no script yet, they'll need to get cracking...

We'll next see Affleck's Batman in Zack Snyder's Justice League, which is currently due on November 17.

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