Batfleck?
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Warner Brothers has cast Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the upcoming “Superman vs. Batman” movie. It’s turned out to be a controversial decision. Reactions seem to range from apathy to rage.
Personally, something about the choice just doesn’t sit right with me. I certainly don’t hate Affleck. In fact, I’ve liked him in several movies (though I haven’t seen his most hated films, such as Gigli, Jersey Girl, or Reindeer Games). But he just doesn’t feel like Batman to me. (Neither did Christian Bale or Michael Keaton, for that matter, though Keaton redeemed himself.)
There were some unusual names mentioned in the lead-up to this announcement, like Kurt Russel or Josh Brolin. Those seemed like odd choices too, but they’d at least have been interesting. Affleck just seems… not quite right.
And I’m not saying that he can’t pull it off. Maybe he’ll be great, and a lot depends on the still-unwritten script and Zack Snyder’s direction. If nothing else, maybe he won’t make Batman sound like he’s gargling broken glass.
What do you think of Affleck as Batman? Good, bad, indifferent?
Kurt Russell is well, too old to play Batman. Josh Brolin … we’d get complaints about Jonah Hex if he were cast (so the Affleck situation would happen again.)
I can buy Affleck as the aloof, completely careless Bruce Wayne. But I can’t imagine him as Batman. (I hated Affleck as Daredevil, but LOVED him as Matt Murdock.)
Russell would definitely be too old, unless they were going for a Dark Knight Returns sort of thing (which had been rumored). Josh Brolin just seemed way wrong to me at first, but then again, you never know. He might be perfect for a stoic, hard-ass Batman.
Remember though, this is a new universe Batman so you have to think at some point he’s going to get spun off into his own film to support the Justice League movie. They have to stay younger to have an actor of appropriate age for a movie in 2017-2019.
I am surprised they went with Affleck, but I don’t think he’s a bad choice. I’m sure a lot of people have a bad taste from Dare Devil, but really that wasn’t his fault, that entire movie
was full of bad.
Yeah, I thought the idea of doing the DKR storyline in the Man of Steel sequel was strange. People probably jumped to conclusions just because that book is the most epic example of Batman and Superman squaring off against each other.
And yes, WB is definitely trying to build up to a Justice League movie. But they really don’t seem to know what they’re doing. They’re playing catch-up with the Avengers, and they’re flailing.
I just realized that I think part of my problem is that even though Ben Affleck is 41, he still looks boyish. I think I’d just like Batman to be a bit more time-worn. Like he’s seen some shit, man.
There was no casting that would have ended any other way unless Bale came back then I would have been that outraged voice. I am not that invested in this movie anyway so whoever they cast makes little difference to me.
However I see Affleck as lightening up the role which makes Superman the grimmer of the two. That seems weird to me.
That’s a good point, and it highlights another vague issue that I have with Affleck as Batman. I just don’t see him as being a very grim kind of guy. It’s not that I think he’s a bad actor, I just don’t know if he can bring the right kind of weight to the role. But to be fair, I’m not sure that anyone really has in the movies. There’s a tone that I don’t think any of the films has quite hit.
I agree they haven’t gotten it right in the films yet. Either too dark or too campy. The Animated Series nailed it right on the head. I guess we will have to see what he is given to work with script wise. He shouldn’t shoulder all the blame for Daredevil.
Commedian and uber-geek Patton Oswalt posted the following to Facebook on the matter. As usual, Patton’s stance is well thought out.
Bah! Who cares? “Movies” are The Past, a tired, hackneyed, overdone medium of the 20th century, rehashing ideas from the medium (paper comic books) that came before them. Yawn.
*Webcomics* are the Wave of The Future!
That’s a nice thought!
Not that I won’t go see the “The Specialists” movie when it comes out, of course.
Well I would hope so! We’re still counting on you to bankroll it! 😉
The check is in the mail.
No, really!
I think, Warner wanted something like a Robert Downey Jr.
Affleck and Downey are nearly in the same Age, 😉
Joke beside, we germans are not good enough with that.
Ben Affleck is a good choice, – and George Clooney was it also, – but the movie, he played Batman, was more the 60’s TV as a 90’s movie.
The only risk I see, is the screenplay and the director.
I’m certainly willing to wait and see. Though I’m not thrilled with the decision, I think all the outrage is fairly ridiculous.
I… I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. I mean, the guy isn’t a bad actor. Nobody’s accusing him of that I think, but my first knee-jerk gut reaction was “you’re joking!” when I heard it which, unfair as it may be, can’t be a good thing. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was just a perfect choice, even before we ever saw the movie, because he really does look the part, is well regarded as a fantastic actor (I haven’t really seen anything where RDJ is doing a bad job) and if anyone could play the addictive personality of Tony Stark right it’s someone who’s well known for having had similar personal demons.
Affleck as Batman? I just don’t have the same reaction to the news as my “Robert Downey Jr.? Yeah, that actually makes sense” reaction when I heard about Iron Man. And I didn’t even hate Daredevil as much as many others seem to do (then again I’m easy to please when it comes to superheroes, really).
Let’s give him a chancce, yeah? I just hope he gets Batman’s serious, no-nonsense attitude across properly. Batman should _not_ be the more lighthearted of the two in a movie featuring Batman and Superman.
Yeah, I’m with you. I think it’s a sort of odd choice, and maybe a little bland. But it’s not worth pulling our hair out over. All we can do now is wait and see how it turns out.
Good, bad or indifferent? Indifferent…
Fair enough.
I have to admit Affleck would not have been my first choice for Batman–then again, my choices for Batman would not likely be anyone else’s choices. But hear me out, please.
My first choice for Batman would be Nathan Fillion. Like Malcolm Reynolds, Batman has the overdeveloped sense of vengeance-–although Mal’s is downright anemic when compared to Batman’s-–so I figure Fillion can pull off that part of the character. Plus, he knows how to fight on camera, if his battle against the Operative at the climax of Serenity is any indication. And he can glower with the best of them.
(As an aside, I think Summer Glau would be just about perfect as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon. Like Yvonne Craig before her, she was a ballet dancer before she became an actress–-and like Nathan, she knows how to fight on camera. But most of you know that already.)
My second choice would be Brandon Routh. Anyone who’s read any of the comics knows that Superman and Batman are a near-identical physical match. They’re both the same height, same build, same hair color-–they used to take advantage of that when they were friends; if Superman and Clark Kent needed to be in the same place at the same time, Bruce Wayne would slip on an blue suit and a pair of glasses and do a Clark Kent impersonation. Likewise, if Batman and Bruce Wayne ever needed to be in the same room, Clark would show up in disguise and help dissuade the suspicious.
I always thought Christopher Reeve would have worked out quite well as Batman; I think Routh could pull it off just as well.
Wow, those are some interesting ideas!
I do really like Nathan Fillion, and you make a compelling case. I do wonder if, like Affleck, he’d be just a little too boyish and goofy, though.
Brandon Routh is also an interesting idea, but can you imagine how confusing that would be for a lot of people?
I think they deliberately hired a scapegoat.
The tones and themes of the two characters don’t mesh well. There are two ways to make it work. Go full-on camp. Or make it dark as hell. Either way it needs a crackerjack script. None of this is likely to happen in a big-budget tentpole using two established money-making properties. It’s going to be formula, most likely, with lots of buddy-cop tropes.
If they’d hired Bruce Campbell for the role, I’d be more enthusiastic.
State that a lot of the film’s inspiration comes from Injustice (or cast Christopher Walken), and I’m happy.
But this promises to be a trainwreck.
I mean, seriously, Superman has to be four-color. Put him in a gritty world of greys, and he automatically becomes the scariest character around. He can kill with a glance. See everything that’s going on for some distance around him, despite intervening obstacles. He can hear, differentiate, and comprehend everything that’s said within miles. He’s invulnerable–except for a substance so rare as to be unobtanium. He can squash you like a bug. Freeze you with a breath. He can be anywhere instantaneously. At least he can no longer turn back time. (Unless he seeks to undo that limitation, which he could if he wanted to.)
His main power is to be superhumanly good. That doesn’t jibe well with Batman’s skirting the line of dark and light, with the implication that all men are fallible and have breaking points.
Nothing against Affleck. I can see him performing very well in a Batman flick where Batman wasn’t sharing top billing with the Big Blue Boyscout.
But in this film especially, Batman needs to be either creepy, or winking at the audience.