Did A Marketing Company Just Reveal That Ben Affleck Will Return As BATMAN Next Year?

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It’s been comforting, really, not having to report on Ben Affleck’s status as Batman for a while. Starting in January of 2017, I felt like I was writing about that topic (or talking about it on The Fanboy Podcast) every other week. Last time we discussed this here on the site we pointed out that the on-again/off-again relationship between Ben Affleck and the role of Batman was seemingly Off again.

That was back in June and, barring Matt Reeves’ non-committal answer in August about whether or not Affleck would appear in the film, there really hasn’t been much else to say on the matter in a while. Until today…

Last night, the marketing company OC Celebrity Marketing posted something onto their Instagram profile, and a lot of people are sharing the post this way:

But there’s a problem with that, because that’s not the whole story on that post. Check out the embedded version below, paying close attention to the hashtags:

View this post on Instagram

We had a fun afternoon with #academyaward winner #BenAffleck! 2019 will be an exciting year! 🎥 🦇 💥 #actor #Batman #DarkKnight #comic #autograph #con #convention #oscar #goodwillhunting #MattDamon #Argo #JackRyan #PearlHarbor #director

A post shared by OC Celebrity Marketing LLC (@agentoccm) on Sep 22, 2018 at 5:16pm PDT

Last night, when the post went up and people started posting screen-grabs of it, it quickly sent a shockwave around Film Twitter Land. Everyone was focusing in on the use of the emojis of a movie camera, a bat, and an explosion. Those, combined with a caption that read “2019 will be an exciting year” got a bunch of people screaming, “Guys! He’s filming Batman next year!”

Now, I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade- as I, myself, would kill for Affleck to return as Batman- but there’s more to that post than the emojis and Bat-related hashtags. Like I pointed out earlier, it’s important to look at what else they tagged the post with: Good Will Hunting, Argo, Jack Ryan, and Pearl Harbor.

Those tags are notable because it implies that who ever put the post together may have simply been tagging every popular film/property Affleck has been associated with in an effort to boost the post and get more eyeballs onto whatever deal they’ve just struck with Affleck (PS. It worked!!). Looking at it from that perspective, and adding in that it’s merely a “celebrity marketing” firm, it’s entirely possible they’re just lining him up for a bunch of big autograph signings at conventions in 2019 and are hyping him up as Batman…because comic conventions attendees freakin’ love Batman!

With that said, I’ve always maintained that things are fluid when it comes to Affleck returning as Batman. While I still consider it highly unlikely we’ll ever see him star in a film as Bruce Wayne again, there’s always the possibility of some sort of deal being reached that could turn that around.

So we’ll see. But, for now, it’s important to not read too much into this Instagram post. Unless, of course, you’re also going to assume that he’s also filming sequels for Good Will Hunting, Argo, The Sum of All Fears, and Pearl Harbor next year, too.

SOURCE: OC Celebrity Marketing