Ben Affleck's Canceled Batman Movie Would Have Unleashed Mr. Freeze And A Fearsome Rogues' Gallery

There’s a long, winding road of what-could-have-beens in the DC Universe, and honestly, Ben Affleck’s solo Batman outing might be one of the more interesting dead ends. We all remember the Batfleck hype back in the mid-2010s, right? Before everything got oddly messy and Batman started showing up like a traveling salesman in other heroes’ movies instead of headlining his own, there was a plan: give Affleck the cowl, the script, and the director’s chair, and let him cook. That didn’t happen (obviously), but some new details just came out, and if you like your Bat-villains with a side of existential misery, maybe have a seat.

What Almost Was: Mr. Freeze, Arkham, and a Villain Free-for-All

So here’s how we found out: Skyler Pinkerton, an artist who worked on all the pre-visualization stuff for the movie (basically, giving execs a clue what this thing would look like before dropping $200 million on it), recently spilled the beans during some casual Instagram back-and-forth. The details got picked up and blasted across Reddit, because of course they did.

Highlights from Pinkerton’s reveal:

• The movie was gearing up for a 2017 shoot, with Affleck slated to star. Pinkerton described landing on the Warner Bros. lot every morning as a dream—working on Batman will do that to a person.
• Mr. Freeze wasn’t just a walk-on cameo. Pinkerton said the Freeze scenes were his favorites, calling them 'beautiful and haunting.' And while the role was technically a 'very small part,' it was much more than the ‘pop in, say a pun, and leave’ treatment you might expect. So, subtle Arnold, not neon '90s Arnold. Progress!
• Deathstroke was also in the mix, but the script was apparently set to go deep on Arkham Asylum, meaning multiple villains would have made appearances—think more rogues’ gallery and less one-on-one. Pinkerton pointed out that the Mr. Freeze bits were 'more than a cameo' and would have stuck with people. (Which is maybe the nice way of saying, 'this was going to be weird as hell, and possibly amazing.')
• Some other folks involved, like Oscar-winning cinematographer Bob Richardson, have gone on record about how heavily Arkham Asylum was woven in.

Ben Affleck’s Complicated Relationship with “The Batman”

For those who lost track of the timeline (fair enough—DC hasn’t exactly made it easy): Affleck was set to star, direct, and write this thing. Then, in 2017, he backed off the directing gig. He claimed it was just too much work to helm and star in a big superhero film at the same time (which seems totally reasonable if you’ve seen the dark circles under the eyes of every Bat-actor after production wraps).

He did say this at the time, aiming to reassure fans and maybe himself as well:

'I remain extremely committed to this project, and look forward to bringing this to life for fans around the world.'

Well...yikes. That never happened. The project just quietly evaporated. Years later, Affleck—never one to sugarcoat things—told GQ last year that the whole plan was a 'really bad recipe.'

So, What Did This Mean for Gotham?

In short: if you liked the darker, more run-down side of Batman’s world, this was shaping up to be your movie. We’re talking multiple villains, Arkham Asylum woven right into the plot, and a chance to see Mr. Freeze actually treated as tragic (instead of cartoonish). Instead, the project fizzled and got rebooted—leading to the Matt Reeves/Robert Pattinson take we have now, which…well, mileage varies.

One thing’s clear: no matter what future Batmen we get, there’ll always be those alternate universes of what might have been. And for now, Affleck’s ‘beautiful and haunting’ Mr. Freeze is stuck in storyboard limbo—possibly, for the best, but we can’t help but wonder.