Ben Affleck's Batman Movie Collaborator Defends Him After Critic Says He Didn't Want to Be Batman Anymore

Ben Affleck was supposed to star in the upcoming movie The Batman after playing the superhero in three previous films, but he ended up dropping out several years ago.

The Oscar winner was hired to not only star in the film, but he was also going to write and direct the movie.

Ben explained in 2019 why he decided to leave the project. He said, “I tried to direct a version of it and worked with a really good screenwriter, but just couldn’t come up with a version, I couldn’t crack it. So I thought it was time to let someone else take a shot at it. They got some really good people, so I’m excited.”

Matt Reeves was hired as the writer and director and Robert Pattinson took over as Batman.

Last week, film critic Scott Mendelson wrote on Twitter that Ben didn’t want to play Batman anymore. He wrote, “All this ‘DC Films will have multiple continuities’ thing is almost entirely because BATMAN V SUPERMAN messed up so badly that Ben Affleck didn’t want to be Batman anymore and they had to take a secondary route to make a Batman movie that didn’t even end up in the same universe.”

Jay Oliva, who was the storyboard artist on Justice League and was working with Ben on The Batman, responded to defend the actor.

Click inside to find out what he said…

“I’m curious where you got this info from Scott? Did Ben tell you this because I was working with him personally just prior to him leaving the project and not once did he seem like he didn’t want to be Batman. His version of Batman in his solo movie would have mad fans proud,” Jay said.

He added in response to another artist, “I was the only artist doing boards with Ben on his Batman film. I was showing him scenes on set while he was shooting JL in London. Other than Ben himself I don’t see who Scott could have talked to who would know Ben’s reasons for leaving the project.”