Affleck's Lost Batman Movie Had A Martial Arts First For The Dark Knight

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Ben Affleck's unrealized Batman movie had a martial arts element that was to be a big first for the Dark Knight. Affleck's performance as a darker, hardened Batman was beset with numerous behind-the-scenes issues that would lead to Affleck departing the role, with Robert Pattinson succeeding him in Matt Reeves' unconnected The Batman. Affleck would later return to film additional scenes for Zack Snyder'sJustice League and signed on for The Flash, while a picture of what his Batman movie was going to be has gradually taken shape over the years.

A recently released image of Deathstroke by artist Jay Oliva shows Slade Wilson (to have been portrayed by Joe Manganiello) wielding his sword against Batman, whose face is seen reflected in the blade. Oliva's image, by placing Slade's so prominently in it, draws attention to the role that both his and Bruce Wayne's skills as martial artists were meant to play in Ben Affleck's unproduced Batman movie. The image also shows that, by having a swordsman villain like Deathstroke, Affleck was bringing swordplay into a Batman film in a way that has never been done before.

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With Batman's extensive martial arts training, various comic book stories and animated shows and films have occasionally depicted him fighting opponents with swords and, from time to time, even using one himself. Tim Burton's Batman and Christopher Nolan'sBatman Begins both brought swords into the equation, but they did so in a relatively brief and compartmentalized way. By having Deathstroke as the main villain of his Batman film, Affleck was preparing to pit Bruce Wayne against an opponent with a sword to an extent that was cinematically