Ben Affleck calls Justice League reshoots his lowest point and says he doesn’t want to direct another DC film

• The actor and director links that experience to his reluctance to direct another DC film.
• The same interview also revisits his cancelled standalone Batman movie, which would have featured Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke.

What happened

Ben Affleck looked back on the production of Justice League in a recent interview and described it as a “so, so negative” experience. In the reporting, that period is framed as the lowest point of his career, though it’s unclear whether that was his exact wording or a summary of his comments. The source focuses on the reshoots and on how the film was reworked after the original production.

Affleck tied that experience to his attitude toward a possible return as a DC director. According to the source, he said the problems around Justice League discouraged him from wanting to make another film in the DC universe. He also referred to the tension between studio and filmmaker during production. In the available context, Warner Bros. is mentioned as the party that, according to Affleck and the reporting, played a difficult role in how the film came together.

The comments also touch on his cancelled standalone Batman film. According to the source, Affleck was enthusiastic about developing it, and Joe Manganiello would have appeared as Deathstroke in that version. The project ultimately never got off the ground. The available context describes it as a standalone project Affleck was developing, but does not confirm a final production stage or completed script.

The embedded YouTube source points to the same topic in broad strokes: Affleck criticizes the Justice League production and describes it as the lowest point of his career. Without a full transcript, that wording should be treated cautiously as context rather than a standalone direct quote.

Background

Affleck was not only an actor in the DC universe, but also worked on his own Batman film as a director. The source says he was creatively excited about that project before it was shelved. In the same context, Warner Bros. is mentioned as a party that, according to Affleck and the reporting, played a difficult role in how Justice League was handled. That makes the comments relevant to the broader history of DCEU productions, where several films dealt with shifting creative direction and restructuring.

The available external context shows that this topic has circulated in reporting about Affleck for some time. Multiple articles refer to his dislike of returning as a DC director and to his earlier Batman project that never happened. Some of that context also says Affleck would “absolutely not” want to direct within the current DC approach, while other pieces stress that he has no interest in the way the DCU is now being shaped. That broader reporting lines up with the core of his recent comments: he links the Justice League period to a clear reluctance to return in a similar role.

The cancelled Batman film remains an important reference point in the discussion. The available context mentions several possible versions of that project, but only confirms that it was a standalone Batman film that was eventually scrapped. Joe Manganiello’s name as Deathstroke fits within those earlier plans and is explicitly mentioned in the source. That leaves the project as an example of how Affleck’s DC plans shifted or stalled multiple times.

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Sources

• IGN: Batman Star Ben Affleck Says Justice League Reshoots Were the Lowest Point of His Career
• YouTube/Happy Sad Confused via embedded source material in the article