Zack Snyder recently joined "The Dark Knight Returns" author Frank Miller for a Q&A tour, where he was once again asked which DC project he would most like to direct if he returned. Snyder reiterated his desire to adapt the classic 1986 miniseries "The Dark Knight Returns," and now appears to envision Ben Affleck's iteration of Batman in the lead role.
"The good news is, Frank Miller has already completed the comic, that's done, so the good news is, the hardest work is over," Snyder stated. "You could say, the heaviest lifting has been done. So I guess the answer is, when they let us make it."
"The Dark Knight Returns" is a seminal DC Elseworlds story, depicting a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne returning to his vigilante ways after a decade of retirement. He confronts Gotham's escalating crime, Two-Face, the Joker, and even Superman, while also training 13-year-old Carrie Kelley to become the new Robin. Snyder famously drew inspiration from the comic's older Batman aesthetic for "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."
Notably, Snyder previously mentioned in 2021 that he envisioned this project as a standalone film, separate from the SnyderVerse continuity.
"It would be a completely standalone project, I would present it 100% in the style of 'Watchmen,' very faithful to the original storyboards," he said at the time. "Truly... I would take it very seriously. Honestly, I don't think the cost would be very high; its style is very raw, and the dialogue within it is also very brilliant. The narration in that work, you could say, is the peak of Frank's creative career, with passages like 'The rain falling on my chest is a baptism.'"
Affleck, currently 53, is only two years shy of the comic's 55-year-old Bruce Wayne, making him a fitting choice for the role. However, with DC Studios currently managing Robert Pattinson's "The Batman" universe and the new DCU's Dark Knight, a Snyder-helmed "The Dark Knight Returns" project shows no immediate signs of materializing.
via： The Direct