It's pretty clear that Affleck has joined the entire project driven by Snyder's vision. The months and months of commentary on how his solo Batman script wasn't satisfying enough,imo, just reveals how this movie got stuck between the original and abandoned plan and what WB newly wanted after the BvS fiasco. Fact is the studio never really knows what they wanted ...
We often hear that WB never had a plan, but there was one. A grand five acts saga signed by Snyder, telling how the Justice League came to be. With some satellites/spin off like WW or Aquaman to expand the universe. And so, with Snyder's DNA pretty much all over this franchise, it's no wonder there were struggle to find a new direction after his firing. Like the studio frankensteined Justice League, they also frankensteined the whole license.
It's seems we're now in a multiverse approach. But it's just a marketing way of saying we're back to a director-oriented approach imo. I have nothing against that, I think it's the better way of doing things : to wait for directors to come with passion-driven projects. Like Phillips did with his Joker.
But still, I can't help but think it's a mess to finally ending up here, after having shutting down promising and passion project like Famuyiwa's Flash for "creative differences". Or, most notably and to stay on topic here, Affleck's Batman.
This is, by far, the most ironic part. That movie was, probably, scrapped because it was too dark and no more in line with what WB wanted for their cinematic universe, just to be finally replaced with a new version, also dark and self-contained anyway.
I'm not complaining, I'm as excited as you can be for The Batman. But no wonder the ride left a bitter taste in Affleck's mouth. It's amazing that he's agreed to come back and, while I don't have much faith in the Flashpoint movie, it's probably a good sign that he consider it as a decent way to end this chapter of his career.
Well, that, or the money is very, very good.
