Ben Affleck’s Batman Battles Deathstroke in Unseen Artwork from Cancelled DCEU Film
Storyboard artist Jay Oliva, who participated in the creation of the film, released never-before-seen conceptual art from the cancelled Ben Affleck Batman movie. The picture displays Batman battling Deathstroke, portrayed by Joe Manganiello, on a rooftop. The art was shared commemorating Batman day in 2024, celebrating 85 years of the Masked Crusader.
Happy BATMAN DAY Everyone! 🦇🦇🦇#BATMAN pic.twitter.com/eCE2G2s66c
— Jay Oliva (@jayoliva1) September 22, 2024
Oliva, a long-time collaborator with Zack Snyder, worked with Affleck and then-president of DC Entertainment, Geoff Johns, on the DCEU’s scrapped film. Snyder’s exit from Justice League forced Warner Bros to revamp the film, altering Deathstroke’s introduction from a hit man hired by Lex Luthor to kill Bruce Wayne to forming Legion of Doom, which disrupted Affleck’s script setup. Largely due to these creative differences, Affleck pulled out from the project while Matt Reeves was brought in as director. Oliva’s artwork gives fans a glimpse of what could have come with the production of Affleck’s Batman movie.
What Batman’s storyboard signifies for Ben Affleck’s Lost film
By the conclusion of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the post-credits scene was intended to transition directly into Affleck’s Batman movie. Luthor deploys Deathstroke to hunt Bruce Wayne as revenge for Superman and Batman imprisoning him. Oliva, who also acted as a consultant for DC due to his extensive superhero lore knowledge, claimed that Affleck’s Batman script was «absolutely phenomenal». In an interview with Inverse, he further explained:
«Having worked on many Batman materials, I really liked how it brought together many epic Batman stories that had never been explored. Ben’s story was going to cover something that hadn’t been covered in the comics; it was based on stories from Batman’s myth over the past 80 years and approached it from a fresh kind of perspective,» he stated.
Silva’s artwork forecasts an action-filled rooftop battle between the Dark Knight and Deathstroke. Based on his words, Affleck’s film focused on both action and narrative. It’s regrettable that the audience never got to see Affleck’s vision of a showdown between Batman and Deathstroke.