Of all the cancelled DC film projects of the last decade, Ben Affleck’s Batman movie lives in an elseworld of myth and missed opportunity. The passion seemed to be there, with reports first mentioning how Ben Affleck would not just star as the titular character, but also direct the then-upcoming project. Now, Joe Manganiello’s memoir, Bloodlines, gives us a clearer sense of what the project was aiming for, and how it would have been inspired by one of the Arkham games.
According to Manganiello, the film was grounded in a variety of inspirations that made it unique to every other DCEU entry. Most notably, the movie would have borrowed its climactic action sequence directly from one of the most iconic moments in Batman: Arkham Origins, the big fight against Deathstroke that would have used the game’s choreography as a foundation.
Another inspiration Manganiello shares is that Affleck envisioned the film as a psychological thriller inspired by David Fincher’s The Game, with the villain Deathstroke dismantling Bruce Wayne’s life piece by piece after being led to believe Batman murdered his son. These tactics included killing Commissioner Gordon, kidnapping Alfred, and breaking into the Batcave. It would've been an escalating revenge...
