News broke today that Star Wars star Oscar Issac is in talks for a role in the new Batman movie – possibly as the film’s villain. If this turns out to be true, I’m all for this as I believe he’s a fine actor and could be a pretty good Batman villain. But which villain? That’s the mystery.

To catch folks up to speed – Warner Bros. is currently developing a new Batman movie, tentatively called “The Batman”, with director/writer Matt Reeves signed on. Reeves previously directed the last two “Planet of the Apes” movies and “Cloverfield”. He’s been hard at work on finishing the script for the movie.

I was surprised at some of the sloppy reporting seen in many of the news articles that hit the web with the Oscar Issac news. For example – many of the articles are reporting that Matt Reeves’ Batman movie would be (loosely) based on Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One”. No – it’s not. Many of the articles also state this is the beginning of a standalone trilogy that would stand separately from the already existing DC Universe movies such as Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Justice League. No – it’s not. It’s not hard to go out and do a little fact-checking on what’s been said by the movie’s director/writer.

Here is what we currently know about Matt Reeves’ “The Batman”:

• It won’t be a origin story. This is the direction Matt says his Batman movie will take: “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.”
• It will be a story that is all about Batman. Matt wants to avoid having the movie filled with cameos servicing other stories.
• It will be part of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) of movies. However, that doesn’t mean the movie won’t take place in the “early days” of Batman and feature a younger Batman than what we saw in Justice League.
• Ben Affleck is still involved – per Matt Reeves.  In which capacity he’s involved remains unknown. Even if Matt goes for a younger Batman for his movie, Ben’s involvement could be at the Executive Producer level. Or perhaps the movie starts with Ben’s Batman telling the story of an earlier adventure.
• Production looking to begin late spring, early summer 2019. But it’s all depending on the script.

I am a huge Batman fan  – of both the movies and comics. I am really looking forward to seeing what Matt Reeves has in store for the Dark Knight. And I’m also a fan of Ben Affleck as Batman. He fits the version of Batman seen in the comics. I think we haven’t had a chance to see him truly *be* Batman yet on the big screen  and hopefully we get that chance. (There’s been some good scenes but I don’t think the storylines in Batman V Superman and Justice League really gave both actor and character “justice” – pardon the pun.)

I suggest following Matt Reeves on Twitter to stay updated on the latest going on with “The Batman”.