Still in shock from last night's big announcement about Ben Affleck as the new Batman? You're not the only one (I'll get to that in a moment) and Latino-Review has some more news involving the planned sequel to MAN OF STEEL. A source for the site says a production team was recently in Detroit, Michigan and they were checking out the city as a possibly location for Gotham City in the new film. Chicago and Pittsburgh were primarily used to portray the fictional city in Christopher Nolan's films, which are fine cities to double as Gotham, but I think the Motor City is an excellent choice for the new Gotham. Apparently the production team also scouted Morocco, and Latino-Review speculates that the location could be where someone (Lex Luthor, Batman) discovers Kryptonite for the first time.
Latino-Review also says there's a chance Ben Affleck could direct a future Batman film, however it is less of a rumor and more of a speculation. OF COURSE people are going to say Affleck might helm a new film, since he has done some fantastic work behind the camera and at one point he was rumored for the JUSTICE LEAGUE movie. I do think it could happen, but it's way too early to say for sure that Ben Affleck will direct a new Batman film, or if he would even be interested in the job. Maybe he'll just want to concentrate on playing Batman and let someone else worry about directing the flick.
People have expressed some very strong feelings about Ben Affleck as the new Batman and while I'm not going to go into my thoughts about the subject (I have no problem with Affleck as Batman, but I don't want to go on some 5,000 word rant defending the dude in a news article), I will share with you some of the reactions from Twitter, including ones from Kevin Smith, Patton Oswalt, Mark Millar and Brian Posehn.
Ben Affleck officially cast as Batman in the Man of Steel sequel. For the first time in history, I kind of want Superman to win.
— The Batman (@TheBatman) August 23, 2013
Holy shit… BEN AFFLECK IS THE NEW BATMAN!!! http://t.co/acivqxFl0U Do you know what this means? It means that I've seen Batman naked!!!
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) August 23, 2013
Ben Affleck awakes, checks Twitter. "Affleck is Batman? Sucks!" He chuckles, kisses his movie star wife, pats his Oscar, goes back to bed.
— Chris Hewitt (@ChrisHewitt) August 23, 2013
WOW, @BenAffleck is gonna play Batman. I hope he fights the Joke-ah! #wickedpissah
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 23, 2013
You read for a part, you feel good about it, you feel confident, then they cast Ben Affleck.
— Richard Dreyfuss (@RichardDreyfuss) August 23, 2013
Imagine if/when he cocks it all up, he'll be responsible for the two worst depictions of two separate superheroes.
— CM Punk (@CMPunk) August 23, 2013
Ben Affleck will be a BRILLIANT Batman. Such a nice, intelligent actor. The backlash to his backlash is now complete. Love it!
— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) August 23, 2013
Affleck directing Batman? Could be cool. He's really finding himself as a director… Wha? Playing Batman? Eeeep!!– A guy who saw Daredevil
— Brian Posehn (@thebrianposehn) August 23, 2013
Really looking forward to seeing Affleck bring the depth and gravitas to Batman that he brought to Daredevil and Gigli.
— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) August 23, 2013
I wake up from my kid's room to find my feed is now full of people tweeting batman lines in boston accents at me. #whatdimiss?
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 23, 2013
Fun Fact: Ben Affleck is now the only actor to play both Batman AND Superman.
— MTV Geek (@MTVGeek) August 23, 2013
The still untitled sequel to MAN OF STEEL starring Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman will be in theaters on July 17th, 2015.