Ben Affleck steps down as Batman

31 January 2019

Ben Affleck is stepping down as Batman.

Ben Affleck

The 46-year-old actor portrayed the Caped Crusader and his alter ego Bruce Wayne in 2016's 'Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice' and 2017's 'Justice League' but has confirmed he won't be involved in Matt Reeves' June 2021 standalone movie 'The Batman', which will focus on a younger version of the comic book legend.

Ben tweeted: "Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life."

Ben had initially been attached to both star in and direct 'The Batman', but opted to step down from his role behind the camera in 2017.

However, he insisted at the time that giving up directing didn't mean he wouldn't be playing the character either.

He previously said: "Let me be clear. I'm the luckiest guy. Batman is the coolest f**king part in any universe, DC, Marvel.

"I am so thrilled to do it. I know there's this misconception that because I'm not directing it, that maybe I wasn't enthusiastic about it. It's f**king amazing! I still can't believe it after two films.

"Kevin Tsujihara, Sue Kroll and Toby Emmerich said to me, 'We want you to be our Batman."

And at the time, the 'Argo' filmmaker vowed to do anything for his replacement director.

He added: "Matt Reeves, doing it, I would be an ape on the ground for Matt Reeves, never mind be Batman. It's incredible! I'm really blown away and excited. It's a great time in the DC universe... and you can see why I am so excited to play Batman."

Meanwhile, Matt recently insisted his take on the franchise wouldn't be an origin tale.

He said: "Obviously, we're not doing an origin tale or anything like that. We're doing a story that is definitively Batman though, and trying to tell a story that's emotional and yet is really about him being the world's greatest detective and all the things that, for me, since I was a kid, made me love Batman."

Henry Cavill, meanwhile, has also been rumored to be leaving Superman behind -- but Jason Momoa told ET that's definitely not the case. See more in the video below.