Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. So, that word that went around yesterday about Matt Reeves saying that his THE BATMAN project was not part of the DCEU was both true and false. It's true because he actually said it, but it's not what he meant.
The director took to Twitter to clarify his statement. When he said his movie wasn't connected to the DCEU, he didn't mean that he was recasting Batman. He meant that it wasn't going to be a cameo-filled superhero extravaganza. Here are his words exactly:
Jeez, what'd I miss, guys...?
— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) August 24, 2017
Just to be clear: Of COURSE Batman will be part of the D.C. Universe. Batman will be BATMAN...
In my comments from a while back about not being part of the DCEU, I was talking about The Batman being a story specifically about Batman...
— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) August 24, 2017
...not about the others in the Universe. That it wouldn't be filled with cameos servicing other stories -- that it would be a BATMAN story.
— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) August 24, 2017
There are two reasons why this misinterpretation happened. One, a lot of the film blogging community have their knives sharpened and at the ready for any sign of trouble within the WB/DC universe. That's a part of it. They read his quote and then spitballed it into Ben Affleck leaving the role.
Sure, that's part of it. But the real reason this was a big story was because of WB's "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach to their DC titles. This came on the heels of that random Todd Phillips/Martin Scorsese standalone Joker origin story movie that would not star Jared Leto as the Clown Prince of Crime and the news that they were going to launch a banner that would be doing spinoff movies that are like alternate universe takes on their characters.
In any other shared universe franchise if the director had said their movie wasn't connected you'd probably assume they meant they're doing a smaller, more focused tale, not that they were making their own random tangent thing, but it's not so easy with DC stuff thanks to the scattershot approach they're taking with their franchise.
Expect there to be a lot of confusion in the coming years as they keep trying things like this. Can audiences handle two concurrent Jokers? I'm not so sure. We live in an age where there's still people confused about why Rey and BB-8 weren't in Rogue One. I personally think WB is making a mistake, but if they make good movies then I guess that's all that matters.
What do you folks think?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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