"inoculated [him] from ever playing another superhero". Snyder cast an older Batman to be a layered juxtaposition against a younger Superman; while "bear[ing] the scars of a seasoned crime fighter, but retain[ing] the charm that the world sees in billionaire Bruce Wayne." Nolan was involved with the casting of Affleck and he was the first actor Snyder approached for the part. The director had also discussed the part with Josh Brolin, even offering him the role prior to casting Affleck, though Brolin turned the role down due to creative differences. It was initially claimed that Bale wanted to play Batman again after The Dark Knight Rises, though he stated that his Batman does not belong in any other film and he was never approached by Warner Bros. to play the role again. Bale ultimately decided not to reprise the role out of respect for Christopher Nolan's creative direction and the fact that the Dark Knight trilogy provided a full arc for the character. Other actors considered to play the role included Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who would be cast as Thomas Wayne for the film, Jon Hamm, and Scott Adkins. Following Justice League, Affleck stepped away from the role and English actor Robert Pattinson was cast to replace him in The Batman, beating out other actors such as Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Armie Hammer, who was previously cast as the character in George Millers cancelled Justice League: Mortal. Affleck left the role due to fatigue and a myriad of events in his personal life, though it was also alleged to be due to Snyder's departure from the DCEU and subsequent creative differences with other directors and writers. With Snyder's return to the franchise with the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League, a director's cut of the prior film, rumored reports of Affleck's own return to the DCEU surfaced prior to confirmation of his return in The Flash, though Pattinson will continue to star in The Batman and its sequels, which have been confirmed as being a self-contained movie and not part of the DCEU's main timeline. Any future Batman-related project in the DCEU that Affleck takes a part of would likely serve to create a multiverse within the franchise. Compared to the difficult experience filming Justice League, Affleck stated that doing reshoots for Zack Snyder's Justice League and filming his scenes for The Flash "put a really nice finish on