It seems we officially have our next caped crusader.
After Variety first reported earlier this month that Robert Pattinson was "in negotiations" to star as Batman and was the "top choice," Deadline, The Wrap, and Variety reported on Friday that he has now officially been picked for the role.
The choice, Deadline reports, came down to Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult, and although Warner Bros. was "torn," they reportedly settled on Pattinson in a meeting on Thursday. This report says that Pattinson and Warner Bros. still have to work out a deal, but Variety reports that the deal has actually already closed.
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Regardless of what state the deal is in, it now seems virtually certain that Pattinson will lead Matt Reeves' The Batman, which opens in June 2021. If all goes according to plan, that probably won't be his last time, as Deadline refers to a "trilogy" coming from Reeves and says that Pattinson's deal will "clearly include options on at least two more films." Reeves had previously said he had ideas for where the story could go from his first movie.
Pattinson replaces Ben Affleck, who made his debut as Bruce Wayne in 2016's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Affleck was originally set to direct The Batman, which he would also star in, but he ultimately dropped out of the project entirely. Affleck said in February that he "couldn't crack" the movie and decided it was "time to let someone else take a shot at it."
