Ben Affleck is throwing fans of the DC Universe yet another curveball by once again casting doubt on his future as Batman.
Playing the Dark Knight has been a hugely bumpy road for the Justice League star, who infamously couldn't even muster a smile while trying to answer criticism of his first outing, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Affleck later sent some more positive signals by signing up to co-write, direct and star in a Batman solo movie — although he ultimately resigned as director in order to hand the project over to Matt Reeves.
Later, there were all sorts of rumours that DC Films and Warner Bros were exploring ways to write Affleck out of the DCEU… but this time Affleck debunked that myth himself and stressed that it was a boyhood dream to play Batman.
So, we're all good now, right? Maybe not, because he was certainly sounding less positive again in a recent interview with US show Extra and its correspondent Mark Wright. Yes, that Mark Wright!
In it, the former TOWIE star recaps Affleck's history as Batman in three films thus far and questions whether he'd be interested in making the role "a five-timer at least".
"I don't know about that," Affleck audibly sighed, adding only: "We'll see what the future holds."
That sound you hear right now is Batman fans collectively banging their cowls against their Batcaves worldwide…
The Batman director Matt Reeves is currently working to revamp a script co-written by Affleck into what he promises will be a highly moving take on the iconic superhero.
"[The studio] came to me and said, 'Would you be interested?'" he recently told Digital Spy. "That's kind of like what happened here with Apes, they said, 'Would you be interested?' and I was like, 'Well, I would be interested but for me I have to find a personal way in'.
"What I've really loved in doing these [Apes] movies, I feel like the studios because of economics are making a very narrow band of films – the summer blockbuster is a very particular animal – and Apes doesn't fit into that and it's because of the metaphors of the genre.
"It gives you the freedom to smuggle into a movie that is otherwise grand summer entertainment... there's a bleakness to it, there's a reality to it, there's a roundedness to it. We're holding a mirror up to ourselves, we're looking at ourselves in these apes' faces and I feel the same potential in Batman."
Let's just hope Ben Affleck actually ends up starring in it! There is no release date set yet for The Batman.
