Ben Affleck to direct Justice League movie?

Read our thoughts on what Warner Brothers needs to do before they start shooting The Justice League movie

With Marvel having just announced that Joss Whedon is in place to write and direct The Avengers 2 , Warner Bros. seem to be readying a counter-punch, with Variety reporting that the studio are considering Ben Affleck to direct a Justice League movie.

The news comes in the wake of Christopher Nolan ruling himself out of the running, with the director clarifying his position at a recent junket for The Dark Knight Rises . "I've got no plans to do anything more," he said of his work on Batman, "and certainly no involvement with any Justice League project."

Variety reports that Affleck's work on Warner's commercially successful The Town has seen his stock rise within the studio, to the point that he is seen as a safe pair of hands in which to place responsibility for prime properties. And a Justice League movie would be the primest of the prime…

The project would see a superhero team-up between the likes of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, and would be seen as a worthy rival to Marvel's stable of Earth-avenging badasses.

Affleck was thought to be in contention for Zack Snyder's Man Of Steel at one point, but it seems as though an even bigger prize may now be within his reach. No release date has been confirmed as yet, but it's thought Warner will attempt to deliver the film in 2015, just in time for a head to head with The Avengers...

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.