Warner Bros. has announced (via The Hollywood Reporter) the upcoming release dates of several movies, including a whopping 3 DC Comics’ movies in 2021 alone. This includes Matt Reeve’s standalone The Batman, The Suicide Squad (sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad), and DC Super Pets.

However, the most shocking, albeit not entirely unexpected, reveal to come out of all this is that Ben Affleck will not be reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Batman. This was reportedly confirmed by Affleck himself, in a tweet which you can check out below.

Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life. https://t.co/GNgyJroMIO

— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) January 31, 2019

Ben Affleck’s departure from the role of the Dark Knight has long been speculated by fans and journalists alike, ever since the underwhelming Justice League movie in 2017. To replace him, The Batman will feature a younger Bruce Wayne in his prime and not the Frank Miller-inspired older Batfleck version.

Meanwhile, DC Superpets will feature the pets of several DC characters including Superman’s Krypto, Batman’s dog Ace the Bat-Hound, Supergirl’s cat Streaky and more. Imagine it to be like a pet version of the Justice League, though I have no idea if this would work in live action.

Batman also has a Bat-Cow and that’s no (killing) joke.

DC Superpets is slated to release on 21 May 2021, followed by The Batman on 25 June and The Suicide Squad on 6 August in the same year.

Fans of Batfleck will certainly loathe this decision, as some of them consider Ben Affleck’s turn as the Caped Crusader to be the best live-action portrayal of the character. I for one look forward to a younger Batman, and one that is worthy of carrying the mantle in a way closer to that of the source material.

For what to expect from the upcoming The Batman movie, director Matt Reeves had this to say in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: “It’s very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale. It’s told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it’s going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional.” He also explained that his version of Batman will be “more in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films.”