Ben Affleck's Batman Movie is "a Year and a Half Out"

While Batman actor Ben Affleck continues to work on Justice League, pre-production on the standalone Batman movie that he will direct and star in has begun. In the last few weeks test we've seen rogue "test" footage and casting news, and now Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has hinted at when we might see the film.

As reported by Comicbook.com, Bewkes was speaking at an investor conference where he revealed that the movie was 18 months away. "The reboot of Batman with Ben Affleck was a big success," he said, in reference to the positive reaction to Affleck's portrayal of the character in this year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. "He's going to be [executive producer] on Justice League and that's helpful to that team."

"Ben announced a Batman movie [that] he's going to direct, star, write for. I think it's a year and a half out. So, the strategy worked."

It is unclear if Bewkes was referring to a release of the Batman movie in 18 months time, or whether that would be when production begins. However, given the DC schedule already has films lined up until 2020, it seems unlikely that the Batman movie would be released in 2018.

Last month, Affleck released some early test footage of Deathstroke, who is confirmed as the villain in his Batman film. A week later, it was confirmed that Joe Manganiello had been cast in the role.

Deathstroke first appeared in a 1980 issue of The New Teen Titans, and the armored mercenary has gone on to appear in a wide variety of DC comics over the years. He is associated with Batman, and is a main adversary to the Green Arrow. On TV, he recently appeared in Season 2 of the CW show Arrow, played by Manu Bennett. He also featured prominently in last year's Batman: Arkham Knight.