Matt Reeves told Esquire that Warner Bros. first presented him with a "Batman" script that Affleck had worked on while Reeves was finishing post-production on "War for the Planet of the Apes." Reeves described the script he first saw as "a totally valid take on the movie" that was action-driven, "almost James Bond-ian," and lived heartily within the DCEU. However, it wasn't the type of "Batman" story Reeves felt comfortable working with — he wanted to divorce the character from the DCEU entirely. Fortunately for Reeves, Warner Bros. was interested, and once Affleck left the project in its entirety, he had a wide-open slate to do whatever he wanted with the character. Reeves said he landed on the idea of showing Bruce Wayne early in his crime-fighting career, struggling to truly make a difference in Gotham.
"He'd like to think that he is doing the right thing, that there's another part of him that's struggling right up against the limits," Reeves said about the character's place in "The Batman." "I think his biggest weakness is not realizing the extent to which the person that he's fighting is himself."
To that end, "The Batman" is not part of the DCEU due to Reeves' insistence on creative control over the story. Fans should not expect to see Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne appear in future DCEU films; presumably, any forthcoming media featuring this version of the character will be a Matt Reeves-helmed or guided project.
