Ben Affleck's Batman film will be an original story that takes inspiration from comics

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There was a time when Ben Affleck's Batman casting was the number one source of fan outrage, which makes it more than a little ironic that the actor's convincing performance is one of the few things most critics and audiences agree on post Batman v Superman. In addition to showing up in this summer's Suicide Squad and next year's Justice League, Affleck's Batman will also be getting a solo movie. We're still a long way off from getting any specifics on the film - which Affleck will also direct and co-write - but it looks like he'll be taking his cue from the comics:

"I think what I would do is, I would probably do in some ways what Zack [Snyder] did with this movie, which is to borrow great stories from the great comic books but create an original story around it", Affleck told Cines Argentinos. "I wouldn’t want fans to already know the story, but I would borrow — steal — great things that have been done before in the comics".

These comments aren't all that surprising; Batman has a long and rich comic book history and Affleck would be foolish not to utilise it. It's just a matter of which elements he decides to draw on and how well they work with the original story he's trying to tell. Batman v Superman, for instance, tried to mesh The Dark Knight Returns comic with The Death of Superman storyline and it resulted in a poor, overstuffed movie. Here's hoping Affleck's choices are more astute. 

Directed by David Ayer and starring Ben Affleck, Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and Joel Kinnaman, Suicide Squad will open in the UK and US on August 5, 2016. 

Images: Warner Bros

Amon Warmann
Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.