Written by Edwin Francisco
AT&T is interested in an Arkham Knight-influenced Ben Affleck Batman limited series for HBO Max.
On April 16, Geekosity reported that AT&T considered pursuing a Ben Affleck Batman TV show; however, there were no details available then.
The situation has changed now.
Ben Affleck wanted to make a solo movie project with Geoff Johns to co-write the story.
This was originally planned to be released after 2017’s Justice League.
At the time Wonder Woman and Aquaman were well into development.
The solo movie was influenced by the graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean.
It would also have elements from the game Arkham Asylum by Rocksteady Studios.
The concept was actually diving into Bruce Wayne’s own insanity, which would have been even darker than Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
Ben Affleck hired Robert Richardson as the cinematographer.
According to Richardson:
“There was a script, but not a loved script.”
In other words, Ben Affleck wasn’t completely satisfied with it.
Nevertheless, Richardson saw the potential, he explained:
“So, I think you would’ve seen something a little darker than what we’ve seen in the past and more into the individual, who was inside Batman — what element may be sane and what element may actually not be sane.”
While working on the solo film he starred in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League; in addition, he had a small cameo role in Suicide Squad.
Unfortunately, Ben Affleck stepped down as the director for the planned solo film in 2017 since he thought he might drink himself to death.
He was replaced by Matt Reeves.
Initially, it was planned that Ben Affleck will still be the Caped Crusader on the solo movie.
Instead, Reeves decided to start fresh with a new script with Robert Pattinson as the new Batman.
AT&T Interested in Batman: Arkham Knight Series for Ben Affleck
It seemed that Ben Affleck’s Batman was at an end. Furthermore, Warner Bros. seemed not interested in getting Ben Affleck again. However, he is still yet to appear in The Flash in 2022.
Ben Affleck shot new scenes specifically for Zack Snyder’s Justice League for HBO Max; he was back as Batman, and the fans loved it.
After its successful release, AT&T wants more.
The proposed show by AT&T will be influenced by the game Arkham Knight, which is part of a bigger series of Batman games which also include Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Origins.
Arkham Knight is the last game for the series and was released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows in 2015.
The game Batman: Arkham Knight revolved around an enemy named Arkham Knight.
It is set after the events of Batman: Arkham City where Joker died at the end.
In Arkham Knight, other than Batman having to deal with the new enemy, he also had to deal with his own mental sanity.
He kept hearing the Joker’s voice to the point that he had doubts whether Joker was truly dead.
In the game, Deathstroke had a smaller role, although an important one, which cannot be revealed if you are planning to play the game. But Deathstroke has a big hand in making the Arkham Knight.
Right now, the planned series is set to have Deathstroke to be the main antagonist of the story.
Deathstroke, also known as Deathstroke the Terminator, was created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez.
This character has no special powers, but he is good at what he does. He is an assassin, and Batman is afraid of him.
If you don’t want to be spoiled with the concept, I’m giving you a warning now.
In the game, Arkham Knight is Jason Todd.
Yes, he is the second Robin after Dick Grayson.
The Joker killed Robin, or presumed to be.
Batman even saw Joker shooting Robin in the chest.
Jason survived the incident apparently, but Bruce didn’t know about it.
Jason snapped when he realized that Batman will never be willing to kill Joker.
Jason felt abandoned.
AT&T Interested in Batman: Arkham Knight Series for Ben Affleck
Years have passed and unknown to Batman, Jason Todd was locked in Arkham Asylum, Deathstroke saves him and led to his escape.
Deathstroke trained him and building his anger towards Batman, believing that Batman had to die.
In Batman v Superman, they didn’t dwell into the issue but it did show Robin’s uniform spray painted by the Joker indicating that the Joker did kill the Jason Todd sometime before the events of Man of Steel.
The Batman/Bruce Wayne in the Snyderverse is partially based on Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.
Miller’s version of Batman had trouble recovering from Jason Todd’s death.
It always haunted him.
The new series may get into Batman’s head, trying to justify his actions and what he could have done to save Jason.
Focusing on his psychological mindset with this heavy burden.
He will be facing his regular set of foes throughout but at the same time facing his own demons.
Personally, it does seem that it still lines up with the original concept of Arkham Asylum.
But other than focusing on his conflict with Joker, Arkham Knight story deals with Batman’s own personal struggles with Jason Todd’s death.
And all that time Deathstroke is there making Jason strong enough to be better than Batman.
Even though the series will tie into the Snyderverse, there are no plans for Zack Snyder to be involved.
And since this is based on that universe, Robert Pattinson is not planned to be attached to the project.
AT&T hasn’t greenlit the project.
They will still have to negotiate with Ben Affleck, perhaps this summer.
This new show can’t start without him.
But by giving Ben Affleck freer reign by making this into a rated R limited series, it might work better than forcing it into one movie.
Moreover, it can go deeper than what the movie could have offered.
It might be enough to get Ben Affleck on board to wear the batsuit again.
They intend to give Ben Affleck a reasonable budget if this goes through.
Nevertheless, it won’t be as large as Snyder’s movies.
Related: Deathstroke’s Joe Manganiello Reveals Details On Ben Affleck Batman Movie
