DC fans call on Warner Bros. to make the Ben Affleck Batman movie and a Black Canary HBO Max series
Fan campaigns have been launched for Ben Affleck's canceled Batman movie and a Black Canary series
DC fans are calling on Warner Bros. to make Ben Affleck's Batman movie and a Black Canary HBO TV series.
Both #MakeTheBatfleckMovie and #BlackCanaryHBOSeries were trending on Twitter, following trending events for #RestoreTheSnyderVerse and #DeathstrokeHBOMax – with Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello joining in with the latter two hashtag campaigns.
Affleck first played Batman in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and reprised his role in both Suicide Squad and Justice League. There were plans for a solo film with Affleck starring as Batman and Manganiello as the villain Deathstroke. Affleck eventually stepped away from the role, however, and the film was scrapped – the Matt Reeves-directed The Batman is now separate from the main set of DCEU films, and stars Robert Pattinson. Check out our rundown of Affleck's time as Batman and the story of his canceled movie for the full story.
However, Affleck returned for additional photography on Zack Snyder's Justice League, and Manganiello has teased that he's not done playing Deathstroke: "It's also not over currently. There are little irons that are in the fire." Both developments have given fans hope that Affleck might be open to picking up the cape and cowl again – or that a Deathstroke project might someday make its way to HBO Max.
As for Black Canary, she made her big-screen debut in 2020's Birds of Prey, played by Lovecraft Country's Jurnee Smollett. No further plans have been announced for the character since, but fans are hoping to see her appear in her own spinoff series and organized the Twitter campaign to coincide with the character's birthday in the comics – April 10.
If any of these movies or TV shows see the light of day, it wouldn't be the first time fans have brought a DC project into being – it was only because of a lengthy campaign that the Snyder Cut was released on HBO Max at all.
The next DC film to hit the big screen will be The Suicide Squad, which releases this August 6. Until then, check out how to watch DC movies in order for a super-movie marathon.
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I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.