Ben Affleck’s unmade Batman movie continues to be of great interest to DC fans, and a recent storyboard reveal shows the role martial arts play.

Ben Affleck is unrealized Batman The movie had a martial arts element that was to be a big first for the Dark Knight. Affleck’s performance as the darker, hardened Batman was plagued with numerous behind-the-scenes issues that would lead to Affleck quitting the role, with Robert Pattinson succeeding him as Matt Reeves. The Batman. Affleck would return later to film additional scenes for Zack Snyder’s Justice League and signed for the flashwhile a picture of what his Batman movie was going to be gradually took shape over the years.

A recently released image of Deathstroke by artist Jay Oliva shows Slade Wilson (who was portrayed by Joe Manganiello) wielding his sword against Batman, whose face is reflected in the blade. Oliva’s image, placing Slade’s in it so well, draws attention to the role her and Bruce Wayne’s skills as martial artists were meant to play in Ben Affleck’s unproduced Batman movie. The image also shows that by having a swordsman villain like Deathstroke, Affleck was introducing swordplay to a Batman movie in a way that had never been done before.

RELATED: How Affleck’s Movie Would Have Been Different From Pattinson’s The Batman

With Batman’s extensive martial arts training, various comic book stories, shows, and animated films have occasionally depicted him battling opponents with swords and, occasionally, even using one himself. by Tim Burton Batman and Christopher Nolan batman begins both introduced swords into the equation, but they did so in relatively brief and compartmentalized ways. By having Deathstroke as the main villain of his Batman movie, Affleck was setting up to pit Bruce Wayne against an adversary with a sword in a cinematically unprecedented degree.

In that regard, the upgrade that Batman’s suit needed to undergo made a lot of sense to fight Slade Wilson. Artist Keith Christensen has released concept art of Affleck’s suit intended for the film, showing that it is both heavily armored and flexible enough for the wearer to be very agile inside. Facing Deathstroke, Batman was going to need both on his side to match Slade’s vast combat skills, as well as deflect his sword strikes.

Joe Manganiello spoke quite openly about Affleck’s Batman movie, comparing it to David Fincher’s The game and depicting Slade as having a deep bloodlust against Batman. What Oliva’s image reinforces is that one of the film’s main goals was to make Batman’s showdown with Deathstroke an unforgettable superhero showdown. Affleck’s Batman movie would also follow the fresh memory of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and acting as a spin-off of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The first notably included Batman’s warehouse fight reminiscent Lowering movies. With Affleck’s Batman movie following such high standards for Caped Crusader warriors, Oliva’s image makes it undeniable that Affleck was eager to match and even surpass this Batman battle by adding sword combat. by Slade.

The Deathstroke artwork obviously galvanized continued interest in Affleck’s lost Batman movie, but there’s a lot more going on in the image itself. Oliva’s reveal of Deathstoke’s image also showed that Slade had to be an enemy with a blade to challenge the Dark Knight’s combat skills in Affleck’s highly self-contained Batman story. While it would probably amaze DC fans and the general public, it seems martial arts movie fans were most amazed of all by Ben Affleck. Batman film.

NEXT: How Batman’s Story Ended In Snyder’s Original Justice League 2 & 3 Outline

Mad Max 5 update from director George Miller

About the Author