SnyderVerse creator Zack Snyder revealed the Batman-centric DC movie that he wants to make, if he returns to the superhero realm. It's hard to believe that five years have already passed since HBO Max finally released, for which the filmmaker reunited with his Batman actor, Ben Affleck, to shoot additional scenes. While Affleck has since donned the Bat-Suit once again for The Flash and a scrapped cameo in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, there have been no signs of Snyder returning to the blue brand, which is now in the hands of James Gunn and his rebooted DCU.
Zack Snyder recently joined The Dark Knight Returns comic writer Frank Miller's Q&A tour to promote his upcoming memoir (via Cosmic Book News). The DCEU's founding father doubled down on his interest in adapting the 1986 four-issue miniseries into a blockbuster movie, saying that it will happen "when they let us:"
"Well, the good news is [Frank Millar] has already finished the comic book, that's done, so the good news is, the hard work is over. The heavy lifting, if you will. So I think the answer is when they let us."
The Dark Knight Returns is an Elseworlds tale centered around a 55-year-old Batman who comes out of a decade-long retirement to clean up a Gotham overrun by gang crime, face off with Two-Face, Joker, and Superman one last time, and begin training a new, female Robin, the 13-year-old Carrie Kelley.
Zack Snyder drew inspiration from The Dark Knight Returns when creating Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It seems the DCEU director envisions Affleck's Batman as the star of his dream comic adaptation, as he later took to Instagram to share a video that spliced an iconic shot from The Dark Knight Returns with one from Batman v Superman.
He also described his Q&A experience with Miller as "unforgettable" and declared that the writer's work has "shaped so much of modern storytelling:"
"An unforgettable night with the legend himself, Frank Miller. Frank Miller’s mastery has shaped so much of modern storytelling — from The Dark Knight Returns to Sin City and beyond."
Snyder's desire to adapt The Dark Knight Returns with Affleck is a major pivot from his previous statements on his dream project in 2021. Back then, Snyder wanted to adapt The Dark Knight Returns as a standalone project that is "really frame-accurate" to the Frank Miller comics, seemingly without any SnyderVerse alums:
"It would just be its own thing. I would just do it 100% Watchmen-style, really frame-accurate, really…really do it. I don’t think it would be that expensive, to be honest. I don’t think so. It’s pretty gritty. There’s that dialogue in there that’s just incredible. The VO in that movie is Frank at his best. That whole ‘the rain on my chest is a baptism’ thing."
Adapting The Dark Knight Returns with Ben Affleck would be rather fitting, as the 53-year-old actor is just two years away from being a comic-accurate age. But beyond that, given the premise of bringing Batman out of a decade-long retirement, it seems too perfect not to use a familiar Dark Knight, which, for Snyder, would of course be Affleck, who last appeared in 2023's The Flash.
Could Zack Snyder's Dark Knight Returns Movie Ever Actually Happen?
In recent years, the divisive superhero filmmaker has made it abundantly clear that his biggest ambition in a potential return to DC is to adapt Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, not to develop Zack Snyder's Justice League 2. The Batman blockbuster would certainly satiate the taste buds of the SnyderVerse's most loyal fans, even if it isn't Zack Snyder's Justice League sequel they were hoping for.
Snyder's ambition to adapt The Dark Knight Returns as a standalone, comic-accurate movie may be more realistic. Warner Bros. will always have a hankering for more Batman, given his consistent box office success rate, and The Dark Knight Returns could work well as a one-off Elseworlds project, devoid of connections to the DCU or even the old DCEU, minus the reuse of Affleck.
However, DC Studios probably won't be eager to add another Batman into the equation anytime soon, as it will already be juggling Robert Pattinson's Crime Saga and a rebooted DCU Dark Knight for the foreseeable future. But perhaps, once Matt Reeves concludes his trilogy with The Batman: Part 3, likely closing the door on that world, there may be space for Snyder's The Dark Knight Returns.
Regardless, Snyder is rather busy right now with multiple upcoming movies, including his war drama passion project The Last Photograph, UFC flick Brawler, and a modern remake of John Carpenter's Escape From New York. Even if Snyder's Dark Knight Returns movie happened, its release would still be years away, given that there is no sign of any serious interest from WB/DC.
