Director Matt Reeves claims The Batman “isn’t part of the extended universe”

It wouldn't be a normal day if there wasn't a new piece of news about The Batman. Since this time last year, news has been constantly hitting the internet about who will be in the movie, who will direct the movie, what it'll be about, and if Ben Affleck will even continue to star as Batman.

Truthfully, it's getting hard to keep up because it's just a bunch of conflicting reports from those who are close to the project and various anonymous sources. With that said, things just got a hell of a lot more confusing.

Director Matt Reeves has come out and said that The Batman is not part of the overall DCEU or at least that's how he makes it sound.

“When they approached me, what they said was: ‘look, it’s a standalone, this isn’t part of the extended universe,” said Reeves. This comment is pretty interesting due to the fact that yesterday we learned Warner Bros. is totally open to branching off from the DCEU to make standalone stories that don't have any direct connection to movies like Justice League.

This comment is even more interesting when we break down even further. Could this serve as a way for Ben Affleck to still play Batman without having to be in a bunch of movies that may or may not be appealing to him? Potentially. He does seem to genuinely love the role and this would be an easy way to keep on DC's biggest star without pushing him into movies he doesn't want to do.

The other really fascinating part about this is that this quote was taken from an interview with Kim Masters from The Hollywood Reporter that was recorded on July 17th. That name might not ring a bell but it's critical to this story. Masters reported on Ben Affleck's future as Batman being in doubt just a few days after this interview was recorded. After hearing some of Reeves' comments, it's entirely possible Masters went off and did some digging to learn more about whether Affleck is indeed staying onboard. We're not saying that this is indeed what happened but it's something to keep in the back of your mind.

We'll likely learn more about The Batman after Justice League releases on November 17th, 2017.