Christopher Nolan Told David S. Goyer To Bail on Ben Affleck's Batman

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Batman Begins, screenwriter David Goyer recently stopped by the Happy Sad Confused podcast to talk about his experience with Christopher Nolan on what would become The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Starring Christian Bale as the title character, the Nolan films raised the bar so high that every Batman movie since has failed to clear it. The first stab was Ben Affleck’s surprise casting for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which arrived just five years after The Dark Knight Rises. Let’s just say that proximity concerned Nolan.

For those who don’t know, Warner Bros. desperately wanted to do for Superman what Nolan did for Batman. In fact, in their greed and laziness, they were hoping Nolan would work his magic again, but he was tapped out on comic book characters. However, he was talked into shepherding Man of Steel under the direction of Zack Snyder. There’s a reason why that movie looks nothing like Snyder’s other work, and actually, kind of slaps save for some jarring creative decisions.

Anyway, Goyer was along for the ride on Man of Steel, but according to the screenwriter, Nolan told him to run for the hills when it became clear that Snyder and Warner Bros. were looking to shoehorn a new Batman into the sequel.

“I remember Chris advising me not to work on the Affleck Batman, just because it’s confusing,” Goyer said via Variety. “We did one and just stick with that.”

Goyer did not listen to that advice, and Warner Bros. is still crawling out from the wreckage of that decision. Affleck’s Batman was tossed in the trash (along with the entire Snyderverse), and who the hell knows what’s happening with Robert Pattinson’s Batman while James Gunn is trying to craft yet another Caped Crusader for his burgeoning DCU.

I sat through Tenet, so I’m not saying Christopher Nolan is always right, but Christopher Nolan seems pretty right on this one. I think he called it.