Aquaman 2: Ben Affleck confirmed to return as Batman

Ben Affleck will be back as Batman in the upcoming Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom. Jason Momoa will reprise his role as the ruler of Atlantis, Arthur Curry, and the 42-year-old revealed that his fellow Justice League member would be returning in the DC film.

Momoa posted a photo of the two together, saying “REUNITED bruce and arthur. love u and miss u Ben WB studio tours just explored the backlot alright. busted on set all great things coming AQUAMAN 2 all my aloha j”

DC Comics replied “legends”. 

The news comes as a surprise since Affleck’s Batman was slated to have a final appearance in the upcoming Flash movie, which initially had a November 2022 release date but has now been pushed back to June 23, 2023. 

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The 49-year-old, who’s starred in movies like Gone Girl, shared that he had a terrible experience playing the Caped Crusader and mentioned how his Good Will Hunting partner Matt Damon helped Affleck quit the part. 

However, the Aquaman appearance seems to indicate that someone convinced Affleck to return, which couldn’t have been easy, considering he’d said “But really what it was is that I wasn’t happy. I didn’t like being there. I didn’t think it was interesting. And then some really s—ty things, awful things happened. But, that’s when I was like, I’m not going to do that anymore.”

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Affleck had also given up the chance to direct and star in his own Batman movie, and following his exit, Robert Pattinson has taken on the mantle, starring in Matt Reeves’ noirish interpretation. Affleck’s Batman also makes a brief appearance in the upcoming Shazam! Fury of the Gods, but since Zachary Levi’s character recalls how these superheroes have an edge over him, it’s likely that old footage of Batman is shown, rather than having Affleck in the cast.