Batman is now available to be reinvented by a brand new director. Word broke last night that Ben Affleck has decided not to direct the standalone film The Batman, and will instead only produce and star in the upcoming DCEU feature. It was a somewhat surprising development, although it did feel like Affleck had been a little pressured to helm the movie in the first place. He spent the last two years hemming and hawing, saying the plan is for him to direct the film, and that he wouldn’t make the film unless the script was great. The script is, reportedly, not great, and so Warner Bros. is on the hunt for a new filmmaker to come in and spruce this thing up.

Given that Batman is one of the most popular superheroes of all time, and arguably the most successful onscreen superhero ever, there’s ample opportunity here for an exciting director to come in and not only revitalize the property, but give the DCEU a much-needed popularity boost. But who should take the helm? A veteran filmmaker whose proven his or her worth in the action realm? An up-and-coming indie director with ambition to spare? We’ve assembled a list of what we see as possible candidates, so peruse our list below and then vote in our poll at the very bottom with who you think should be directing.

But first, a practicality note. Even though Affleck has left the director’s chair, The Batman is still a priority property for Warner Bros. So while they will no doubt take their timing in getting the script right, WB still has shareholders to consider, and The Batman will be getting off the ground sooner rather than later. So with that being said, a filmmaker who’s just gearing up to start production on another feature, with another year or year and a half of post-production to go, is not likely to make the cut. WB would ideally like to start filming this year, so whoever takes the helm needs to be free within the next couple of months to start prep work.

Gavin O'Connor

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Image via Warner Bros.

This is probably one of the likeliest candidates on the list. Gavin O’Connor helmed Affleck in The Accountant to solid results, and he’s certainly proven himself capable of handling action and character. He has a few other projects percolating at the moment, but he’s likely in Warner Bros.’ good graces, which helps.

David Fincher

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Image via Sony Pictures

Okay so this is the pie-in-the-sky choice. David Fincher and Affleck worked together on Gone Girl and churned out a tremendously entertaining thriller, but there’s no way Fincher does The Batman unless it’s on his own terms. He’s an exacting filmmaker who isn’t afraid to walk away from a project if the studio doesn’t trust his vision, and WB is super on-edge at the moment. Fincher came close to tackling a blockbuster with Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but he left when he and the studio couldn’t see eye to eye on casting. But if Fincher was interested, and if Affleck had his back, The Batman could just maybe work out.

Doug Liman

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Image via Warner Bros.

The Bourne Identity filmmaker Doug Liman is hip again thanks to the smashing success of Edge of Tomorrow, and he’s fielding offers left and right. He most recently departed Fox’s Gambit in favor of helming Warner Bros.’ Justice League Dark, so he’s already attached to helm a DCEU movie. But if he were to change his mind, or if WB felt comfortable allowing his free-form style to meld with the Batman property, this could be an interesting marriage.

Matt Reeves

Image via Relativity Media

Cloverfield and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves was one of the first names to surface as a potential replacement for Affleck, as he’s reportedly on the shortlist WB is mulling over. Reeves is currently in the last legs of post-production on War for the Planet of the Apes, meaning he’s free soon, and he’s shown a deftness in weaving socio-political themes into a blockbuster feature, which is a plus.

Jennifer Kent

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Image via IFC Films

Jennifer Kent burst onto the scene in a big way with the thoughtful, unnerving The Babadook, and while she doesn’t have experience in the action realm, she’s certainly an exciting filmmaker. One imagines she could bring out the darkness in Batman’s psyche quite well.

Chad Stahelski

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Image via Lionsgate

After working as a stunt coordinator and second unit director for years, Chad Stahelski made his co-directing debut on the terrific John Wick. He just went solo for John Wick: Chapter 2 and has a number of other projects percolating, including a Highlander reboot, but if it’s high-end action you want in your Batman movie, Stahelski’s your guy.

Gore Verbinski

Director Gore Verbinski with star Johnny Depp on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Image via Disney

Gore Verbinski is one of the most versatile filmmakers working today. The director behind the massive Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy can seamlessly weave into genres like horror (The Ring) and Western (Rango) and churn out incredible movies, and while The Lone Ranger was a misfire, this guy’s ambition and uniqueness of vision is something to behold. He’s back in Hollywood’s good graces with the psychological thriller A Cure for Wellness, but imagining his return to a large canvas with The Batman is mighty exciting.

Gareth Evans

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Image via Sony Pictures Classics

Gareth Evans has yet to really capitalize on the success of his The Raid films, but one imagines he could bring a vitality to The Batman that would certainly set the film apart.

Karyn Kusama

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Image via Drafthouse Films

Karyn Kusama first delved into the action genre with Aeon Flux, which was taken away from her in post-production and chopped to bits before release. She’s slowly made her way back with last year’s striking horror pic The Invitation, and it would certainly be interesting to see her return to large-scale blockbuster filmmaking with a new take on Batman.

Matt Ross

The most surprising name to surface in the wake of Affleck’s exit was Matt Ross, who most know as Gavin Belson on HBO’s Silicon Valley, but who wrote and directed last year’s beloved indie Captain Fantastic. He’s apparently on WB’s shortlist, so he’s in the mix.

Drew Goddard

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Image via Lionsgate

Drew Goddard was supposed to have made a superhero movie by now. After the smashing success of Cabin in the Woods, he was enlisted by Marvel Studios to create, write, direct, and showrun Daredevil for Netflix. However, in the midst of writing and prep, Sony made Goddard an offer he couldn’t refuse: writing and directing a Sinister Six movie. That film disappeared when Sony changed course after The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and while Goddard scripts for Daredevil Season 1 remained, he didn’t get to direct his favorite superhero. The guy is crazy talented and Warner Bros. would be crazy not to see what kind of Batman movie he’d make.

Michelle MacLaren

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Image via AMC

Famed TV director Michelle MacLaren—who helmed some of the best episodes of Breaking Bad as well as Game of Thrones—was attached to direct Wonder Woman for WB before falling out over creative differences. If she has an interest in The Batman, and if tensions have cooled, she’d be a swell choice.

Taylor Sheridan

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Image via Sundance

Taylor Sheridan is more known as a writer at this point in time, having written Sicario and Hell or High Water, earning an Oscar nod for the latter. But he wrote and directed the thriller Wind River, which just debuted at Sundance to positive response, and in my recent interview with Sheridan he said he’d definitely be interested in tackling a superhero movie if the material spoke to him. He’s one of the best writers working today, and he’s able to churn out tight, thematically relevant, and compelling scripts, so even if he doesn’t direct The Batman one imagines his grizzled, Western-infused style would be an excellent fit for the superhero movie's script.

Dee Rees

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Another filmmaker who broke out big at Sundance this year is Dee Rees, the writer/director of the indie Pariah. This year she brought Mudbound, a WWII-era Southern epic, to Sundance to phenomenal results. The film is a complex, sprawling story of life and family in the Jim Crow South, but she proves she can juggle many characters at once without short-changing a single one. The film also contains some striking, searing imagery, and Rees makes a strong case for being given a massive budget to play with.

Joss Whedon

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Image via Marvel Studios

Maybe Joss Whedon can be the first filmmaker to cross the Marvel/DC streams. While he’s pretty much done with Marvel Studios after directing The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron and basically serving as “showrunner” on the studio’s Phase 2 slate, Whedon is one of the sharpest minds in the business with a predilection for superhero stories. I’d be mighty curious to see what he came up with for a Batman movie.

Matthew Vaughn

Matthew Vaughn has already made a few superhero movies—Kick-Ass, X-Men: The First Class, and even Kingsman—but it’d be interesting to see his take on The Dark Knight, which no doubt would liven up the DCEU quite a bit.

Kathryn Bigelow

Okay so Kathryn Bigelow probably isn’t interested in this, but she and Affleck have a connection after having been snubbed for a Best Director Oscar nomination in 2012. She’s an exciting filmmaker who’s currently in post-production on her long-awaited Zero Dark Thirty follow-up, but admittedly she’s far more interested in real-life stories than caped crusaders.

Denis Villeneuve

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Image via Paramount Pictures

Denis Villeneuve has quickly vaulted himself to in-demand status thanks to involving, striking works like Sicario and Arrival. He’s already making a big-budget sci-fi movie in the form of Blade Runner 2049 and has Dune on the docket, but the thought of him tackling The Batman is mighty exciting—especially if he were to bring cinematographer Roger Deakins along.

Christopher McQuarrie

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Image via Paramount Pictures

Between Jack Ryan and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie has shown that he can handle action-heavy stories while keeping them fleet-footed, engaging, and wildly charismatic. He’s admittedly gearing up to shoot Mission: Impossible 6 now so that likely makes him a no-go for The Batman, but I can’t shake the feeling he’d turn out a really exciting—and fun!—Batman movie.

Cary Fukunaga

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Image via Netflix

It’s been too long since we’ve seen anything from Cary Fukunaga (through no fault of his own—he was lined up to helm It but left over creative differences), so I’d put him on the shortlist to direct pretty much any major project currently in the works. We know he has a strong visual POV, and the guy can shoot (he was his own cinematographer on Beasts of No Nation), so why not throw him into the DCEU mix?

And that’s what we’ve got folks. Vote in the poll below, and sound off in the comments if there are any filmmakers we missed.