After Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy came to an end in 2012, fans weren't sure what the next step was for the Batman franchise. This spring, Ben Affleck portrayed The Dark Knight in Warner Bros.' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with the actor returning in Suicide Squad and next year's Justice League. Comic book legend Frank Miller recently explained how he would approach this character in a new movie.

Variety spoke with Frank Miller at Lucca Comics & Games, where he said he wants to make a "much smaller" Batman movie. He previously praised Ben Affleck's work as Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was partially based on his own work. But it's clear he would take a different approach, if he were to take the helm on a solo outing for the caped crusader. Here's what he had to say.

"My dream would be to make it much smaller. To lose the toys and to focus more on the mission, and to use the city a great deal more. Because he's got a loving relationship with the city he's protecting. And unlike Superman his connection to crime is intimate; it has been ever since his parents were murdered. And he defeats criminals with his hands. So it would be a different take. But it will never be in my hands, because it would not be a good place to make toys from. There wouldn't be a line of toys."

Before Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, Warner Bros., Frank Miller and director Darren Aronofsky were set to make a film called Batman: Year One, which never moved forward. There was an animated version that was released straight to Blu-ray/DVD in 2011. When asked if he would have taken a smaller approach to Batman: Year One, if it would have been produced, the director had this to say.

"That screenplay was based on my book Batman: Year One, and yeah it was much more down to earth. In it a fair amount of time is spent before he became Batman, and when he went out and fought crime he really screwed it up a bunch of times before he got it right. So it was 90-minute origins story."

Ben Affleck is developing a solo Batman movie which he will reportedly star in and direct, while writing the script with Geoff Johns. Warner Bros. recently named Geoff Johns as one of the heads of their new DC Films banner, alongside Warner Bros.' Jon Berg. Ben Affleck will next return as Batman/Bruce Wayne in Justice League, arriving in theaters November 17, 2017.