Affleck wants BATMAN solo movie to be an 'original story'

After Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice got somewhat of an underwhelming reception from the critical world, many people are working hard to ensure the rest of the DC Movies that are on their way are going to be a lot better and address most of these concerns. One of the people who really wants to fix this is Ben Affleck who is now an executive producer for the upcoming Justice League films, and also penning and directing the next Batman solo film. Affleck’s performance as Batman was one of the better things about BvS and it’s a character he has a lot of passion about – so hopefully it will make for a strong solo movie.

In an interview with Cines Argentinos Affleck was asked if the solo film will take one of the story arcs from the many comics and adapt that into the movie and Affleck’s response was that his film would instead be more of an ‘original story’, rather than a straight adaptation of what came before:

I think what I would do is probably, I would probably do in some ways what Zack did with this movie, which is to borrow certain things from the great comic books, but create an original story around it. Because I wouldn’t want the fans to already know the story and be familiar with it, but I would borrow, and steal, great things that have been done before in the comics.

He goes on later to compare how Zack Snyder used Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” comic book for the BvS film, but used it more for inspiration and setting of tone, with the film including a mostly original storyline. So, although Affleck is still looking to tell an original story, he is likely to draw inspiration from one of the Batman stories.

It’s a somewhat different approach to what Marvel are doing in their own cinematic universe, with large parts of their movies being consistent with the comic storylines (they deviate, but not greatly). While Affleck’s comments make sense, the truth is most cinema-goers are probably not huge comic book fans and so the number of people who may actually know the story line details are few – and if the comic book does tell a great story, why not keep it that way?

However Affleck’s previous scripting efforts have all been rather strong and engaging, so I can’t fault his abilities and if it adds more passion to the film, that’s a good thing. It worked with Nolan’s Batman movies and even if they weren’t perfect, they were certainly filled with passion and that is what made them a success in the end.

What Batman comic stories do you think the next Batman solo movie should draw inspiration from?

Last Updated: June 6, 2016