With Ben Affleck having recently announced that he will no longer be directing the Batman movie, it's now being speculated he may quit playing the role as well.
Hughes goes on to mention he heard there is a chance that Ben Affleck might walk away from starring in the Batman movie and also added that if Ben Affleck does star in the Batman movie, "the odds Affleck might walk away from the DCU after the film have increased."
So assuming there is any legitimacy to these sources, it seems it's possible Ben Affleck may step down from the Batman role following Justice League, or leave following the Batman movie.
We can only speculate why Ben Affleck wants to leave the Batman role, but it may have something to do with the state of the DCEU being a mess. Both Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman failed to live up to expectations of the "billion dollar blockbuster." Suicide Squad was deemed a huge failure by critics, and now it's said both Wonder Woman and Justice League are suffering from problems as well. It's possible Ben Affleck might be looking at the Batman role as a career-killer.
Issues regarding Ben Affleck and Batman came out while Ben Affleck was doing press for his latest movie Live By Night. Affleck was noticeably annoyed at any question of Batman and even lashed out stating answering questions about Batman has been a "pain in the ass." To add to that, Live By Night bombed at the box office, which has been another reason cited as to why Affleck stepped down from directing Batman (he wrote, starred in and directed Live By Night).
Obviously Ben Affleck leaving Batman is pure speculation at this time, and the actor may simply be frustrated by his latest string of movies not performing as well as hoped, but WB currently doesn't have the best track record when it comes to their DC slate of movies, so Affleck leaving Batman can't be ruled out. That said, who should replace Ben Affleck as Batman?
