There should be plenty of DC-related news headed our way this weekend at the DC FanDome event, but in the meantime, here is one advance headline to get things started. We heard a couple of months ago that the upcoming Flash movie was still planning to adapt the Flashpoint storyline in such a way that it would introduce a DC multiverse on the big screen. Michael Keaton was reportedly in discussions to return as an older version of Batman from a different universe but at the time we didn’t know if any other Batmen would be involved. Now it looks like Ben Affleck is also coming out of his self-imposed retirement to play Batman one last time. Read on for the full scoop.

According to Vanity Fair, Ben Affleck has signed on to star in The Flash for Warner Brothers. Robert Pattinson will continue to be the face of Batman in the DC Universe moving forward, but for now, Affleck is suiting up on last time and will be considered the “default” version of the character from the perspective of Ezra Miller’s Flash. Director Andy Muschietti had this to say about the role:

“He’s a very substantial part of the emotional impact of the movie. The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level that we haven’t seen before… It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but their characters are more related than we think. They both lost their mothers to murder, and that’s one of the emotional vessels of the movie. That’s where the Affleck Batman kicks in.”

Affleck was supposedly very open to returning in this way, which may come as a bit of a surprise. He seems to be in a better place in his personal life right now and the fact that the whole movie doesn’t revolve around him seems to be a selling point. The obvious question now is whether we might see Christian Bale return as well, but that seems unlikely given his loyalty to Christopher Nolan. There’s always Val Kilmer and George Clooney too but sadly Adam West passed away back in 2017. Are you excited to see Batfleck return on screen one last time?