It’s official – Ben Affleck is back as Batman in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.
The upcoming sequel sees Jason Momoa return as Arthur Curry, the seafaring superhero known as Aquaman. But it looks as though he couldn’t resist revealing that he won’t be the only Justice League member returning in the movie.
“REUNITED,” he said via Instagram. “bruce and arthur. love u and miss u Ben WB studio tours just explored the backlot alright. busted on set all great things coming AQUAMAN 2 all my aloha j”
The official DC Comics Instagram simply replied: "Legends."
What’s surprising is that Affleck was reportedly done with Batman, officially hanging up his cape.
Of course, we knew that he was due to appear in the upcoming Flash movie, which was originally set to debut in November 2022 but has since been pushed to June 23, 2023. But this was supposed to be his final time on screen as the caped crusader. Instead, it looks as though someone, somewhere convinced him to return. And after his experience on Justice League, it couldn’t have been an easy conversation.
“I had a really nadir experience around Justice League for a lot of different reasons,” said Affleck. “Not blaming anybody, there's a lot of things that happened. But really what it was is that I wasn't happy. I didn't like being there. I didn't think it was interesting. And then some really s—ty things, awful things happened. But, that's when I was like, I'm not going to do that anymore.”
His return in Aquaman 2 then is a huge surprise, especially after he gave up starring in and directing his own version of The Batman.
Still, it looks as though Affleck’s Batman/Bruce Wayne will be back, but how he fits into the upcoming Aquaman sequel remains to be seen.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom stars Jason Momoa as Aquaman, alongside Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman. James Wan directed the film based on a script by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Jason Momoa.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.