New Batman solo franchise to follow 'Justice League' debut?

I consider this rumor to be about as weak as they come, but there's no denying the Internet ha been absolutely buzzing about the prospect of it being true. The folks over at Batman-On-Film are suggesting that the next version of Batman we see on screen won't be in his own solo franchise, but will first debut as part of the Warner Bros. Justice League. Here's the crucial line from the story so you can see what we're dealing with here....

"The new cinematic Batman will be introduced in the JL film as opposed to a solo film. This would, according to my industry “FOBOF,” assure the new Batman film series will be part of a “DC Cinematic Universe.”

Hardly the most rock solid of statements, but in there you can basically see they're saying that a Batman solo film will indeed happen, and he'll be played by the same guy in the Justice League movie as part of an Avengers-style shared universe. That matches some of what we learned earlier this month about both Man of Steel and Batman being linked to Justice League...

"[Warner Bros.] will try to resuscitate Batman as a stand-alone franchise and/or as part of a planned Justice League ensemble that could connect to next summer's Man of Steel."

With Will Beall's script for Justice League already in place, Warner Bros. must have a good idea on the direction they intend to go with it, and must have some inkling of how to approach their solo satellite films. Still, it's important to remember that so far we haven't seen anything official from anybody saying that a shared universe approach is in play. The anecdotal evidence is there to support it, though.

Of course, this could all change depending on how Henry Cavill performs in Man of Steel. If the film is a dud and people don't take to him, it wouldn't be all that shocking to see someone else in the red and blue tights in the Justice League film. Nor would it be shocking to see Warner Bros. use that failure as a reason to do something wildly different with Batman, like possibly continuing on with Christopher Nolan's series in some fashion.