There have been some juicy rumours swirling around the Warner Bros/DC movies over the last couple of days, and while none of them have yet been confirmed as irrefutable fact, they are still juicy, so let’s have a look at what’s going on with Suicide Squad 2 and the Batman solo movie.
First off, let’s start with the Skwad. Since it was announced that David Ayer would be leaving the bulk of the bad guys behind to focus on the Harley Quinn-led Gotham City Sirens, there’s been an empty director’s chair on the sequel to last year’s rumbling juggernaut.
Now, THR reports that Warner Bros is “courting” Mel Gibson to direct Suicide Squad 2. They stress that it’s more of a conversation than an offer at this point “No official offer has been made nor has any commitment. Sources say that Gibson is familiarising himself with the material.”
Gibson is currently riding the wave of his Hollywood rehabilitation with an Oscar nomination for Best Director for his blood-drenched war drama Hacksaw Ridge, so a movie into this universe might seem like a bit of an odd choice. He’s also talked about how he’s not a fan of superhero movies, telling Deadline “I’m not interested in the stuff. Do you know what the difference between real superheroes and comic book superheroes is? Real superheroes didn’t wear spandex. So I don’t know. Spandex must cost a lot.” He called Batman V Superman “a piece of shit” in that same interview, but that’s not an uncommon opinion, and he was hammering the film for the size of its budget, which was an insane $250 million.
Anyway, while Gibson mulls over whether he or not he wants to make the film, Warner Bros is also looking at other options, including Daniel Espinosa, director of Safe House and upcoming sci-fi horror Life.
But what about the Bat?
Since Affleck finally officially decided not to direct The Batman, Matt Reeves has emerged as the apparent frontrunner for the gig, with Variety stating that he was in early talks to direct. The director of Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes seems to like a solid choice, but the sad Affleck rumblings haven’t stopped.
Collider‘s Matt Campea (via The Independent) said “Over the past four days, I’ve talked to three separate people, who are connected in some way, to what is going on over at Warner Bros. They’re telling me that Ben Affleck, make no mistake, he does want out. He doesn’t want to be Batman anymore. I have been told that Affleck is talking with Warner Bros. in an attempt to get out of being Batman.”
He warns viewers to take this with a “huge grain of salt,” so it could well all be nonsense, and it’s not been substantiated by anyone involved. It would also be fairly complicated at this point, but not entirely incomprehensible. With Justice League wrapped, he’s already played the character twice at this point and it doesn’t sound like putting the Batman film together has been the easiest thing in the world. It wouldn’t look good for this comic book movie universe, though, which seems to be fighting rumours on a daily basis.
More on these stories as they emerge…
Justice League is in cinemas from 17 November 2017. Get all the latest superhero movie news with every issue of SciFiNow.
