Contrary to popular belief, Ben Affleck is not quite committed to directing his own Batman movie yet. A few months ago, strong rumors made it sound as though Affleck was all set to star in, cowrite and direct a solo Batman movie, with one report stating that a script by Affleck and comic book veteran Geoff Johns was expected by the end of summer.

That didn't happen, though, and in fact, no official statement by Warner Bros. has been issued on the subject since those rumors began circulating. Recently, however, Affleck spoke specifically about the prospect of directing the superhero movie:

"If I could make it work, yeah, Obviously that would be like a dream. The trick, as to any movie, is to make sure that you -- if you’re going to direct it -- that you can make it good. You’ve got to have the right idea and the right take on it… Broadly speaking, it’s something I’d be open to, for sure. It’s a very exciting idea."

Affleck, of course, would not be the first actor to direct a modern superhero movie. Jon Favreau directed Iron Man and its sequel, and in both he played a supporting role as Happy Hogan. Kenneth Branagh directed Thor, and his resume as an actor and director helped to attract actors to the movie.

Clearly Affleck has proven himself as a director, first with Gone Baby Gone and then with The Town and Argo. He directed himself in the latter two movies, which both won acclaim, with Affleck earning an Academy Award as a producer for Argo in 2013. A few months later, he was cast as Batman in Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which raised a storm of controversy over whether he was the right choice to portray Bruce Wayne.

The casting storm has quieted down since then, in part because of Affleck's superb dramatic performance in David Fincher's Gone Girl last year, and in part because the first trailer made clear that Affleck's Bruce Wayne will be an older, angrier Bruce Wayne than the one portrayed by Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan's trilogy. After that, there's the two-part Justice League movie, and somewhere in there perhaps a solo Batman movie will find its way into the release schedule.

Whether Affleck directs that big-budget project himself or not, a solo Batman movie will face the daunting prospect of living up to the heights achieved by Nolan's Batman trilogy. It's amazing that the man who stirred controversy when he was cast in the role might end up deciding the Caped Crusader's fate in the near future.