X

You're not getting rid of Ben Affleck as Batman

The "Justice League" panel at Comic-Con also reveals the Flash's universe-bending Flashpoint storyline will hit the big screen.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
See full bio
Gael Cooper
2 min read
Watch this: Comic-Con 'Justice League' sneak peek trailer brings a new age of heroes

What's that meme say? Be yourself, unless you can be Batman: Always be Batman.

Ben Affleck can be Batman, despite rumors that the actor is leaving the role (voluntarily or otherwise).

At the "Justice League" panel Saturday at San Diego's Comic-Con, Affleck confirmed he's staying. "I am the luckiest guy in the world," the actor told the crowd. "I'm so thrilled to do it."

Affleck's news was just one of the many tidbits dropped at the popular panel, which also included a long-awaited, four-minute-long trailer. Tthe titles of other upcoming DC movies were revealed, and the film showcasing The Flash was titled "Flashpoint." That may mean nothing to casual fans, but Flashpoint was a 2011 comics arc that gave many of DC's heroes alternate lives that differ quite a bit from their main storylines. (Bruce Wayne died in the famed attack on his parents, and his father became Batman, for one thing.)

Many fans expressed excitement about the jumbled Flashpoint universe making it to the big screen.

Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (yes, Negan from "The Walking Dead") played Thomas Wayne in 2016's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," and months ago hinted at his possible "Flashpoint" role.

"Hopefully DC can figure this all out, and in a few years I can come back and do a Flashpoint Batman!" Morgan told Cinema Blend in 2016. "I would love it. That would be great."

Other upcoming DC film titles announced at the panel included "Suicide Squad 2," "The Batman," "Shazam," "Justice League Dark," "Wonder Woman 2," "Green Lantern Corps" and "Batgirl."

"Green Lantern Corps" and "Wonder Woman 2" especially stirred some online interest.

That there would be a second Wonder Woman movie had been assumed by many due to the overwhelming success of the first film, but fans appreciated the official confirmation.

Perhaps the scene-stealer of the panel, to no one's surprise, was Jason Momoa (Aquaman), who declared "The King is here!" and carried his character's iconic trident (though yes, like the one in the comics, this one has five prongs).

Don't mess with the former Khal Drogo, who actually broke his chair after the presentation.

While a short Aquaman tease was shown to those in the hall, it's reportedly unlikely that footage, which is far from a full trailer, will make it online. Here's what CNET saw:

"Aquaman" is scheduled for a December 2018 release. See all our Comic-Con coverage here. 

Comic-Con: Marvel, DC and other superhero toys flying from SDCC 2017 to shelves

+32 More
See all photos