With Justice League now finally in cinemas, one topic that won’t go away is the idea of Ben Affleck being replaced in the cape and cowl. Following constant rumours of Affleck stepping away from the Batman gig, now comes an update on who may be in the frame to replace him if that does indeed happen.

After recent speculation that The Batman director Matt Reeves is actually looking for someone other than Affleck to headline his Caped Crusader effort – which is already being looked at as the start of a possible new Bat-trilogy – there’s an interesting rumour out there on who the director may have in mind to play the World’s Greatest Detective.

As per The Playlist, Reeves’ reported first choice is Jake Gyllenhaal. The same source claims that Warner Brothers have actually had discussions of bringing in the Donnie Darko star to take on the iconic role, and the main reason that Reeves is looking at such an option is to distance his film(s) from the main DC Extended Universe.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Gyllenhaal has been weighed up for a superhero role, with him previously having been in the running to play Spider-Man before Tobey Maguire nabbed the part in Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Even then, when Maguire had serious back issues in the build-up to Spider-Man 2, Gyllenhaal was in line to take over the Wall-crawler role should the need arise.

As touched upon at the top of this news story, treat this all as a rumour for now. Still, this isn’t the first time that such a story has arisen regarding Ben Affleck’s future as Batman, and we’re sure it won’t be the last. Fear not, for we’ll be sure to bring you more on all of this if and when it continues to develop.

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