Ben Affleck may not return for 'The Batman'

YouTube/Warner Bros.

On the heels of Ben Affleck dropping out of the upcoming Netflix project, "Triple Frontier," it seems he also might be hanging up his Batman cape and mask.

In a story The Hollywood Reporter put up Friday, the trade reports that Warner Bros. is working on a way to phase out Affleck as the current Dark Knight.

Though Affleck will definitely be playing Batman in the upcoming "Justice League" movie, coming out November 17 (he's even scheduled to appear at Comic Con in San Diego this weekend to promote it), THR says "it would be wise to bet against Affleck starring in 'The Batman,'" according to its source.

The standalone Batman movie was first going to be a writer-director project for Affleck. He was also to star again as the iconic DC Comics hero. But gradually news has come out of Affleck stepping back.

First, he announced that he would no longer be director in January, then earlier this month the new director on "The Batman," Matt Reeves ("War for the Planet of the Apes"), said that he would not be using Affleck's script.

Warner Bros.According to the THR story, Affleck being ushered out of the role will be "gracefully" addressed in an upcoming DC Extended Universe movie.

Affleck first starred as Batman to positive reviews in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." He then had a cameo role as the character in "Suicide Squad."

Business Insider contacted Warner Bros. for comment and was referred to the quote studio head Toby Emmerich gave THR: "Ben is our Batman. We love him as Batman. We want to keep him in the cowl as long as we can."

NOW WATCH: Marvel just dropped the first trailer for 'Black Panther'