Two-time Academy Award Winner Ben Affleck was cast as the new Batman, and let me tell you why it’s awesome news. The internet has been overfilled with hate that he’s going to be the new Batman, and I immediately showed my support, causing some people to fill my threads with hate because, well you guys are kind of idiotic since I am ALWAYS right =)
The thing with us nerds, whether comic or movie nerds, is that we tend hate on a lot of news immediately. We’re like hipsters in that it’s trendy to hate. Well take off your horned-rimmed glasses, put your Starbucks down and stop listening to shitty indie music.
Ben Affleck is an EXTREMELY talented actor and director. Remember when he was a possible candidate to direct the Justice League movie? Wait, what is that movie that he directed and acted in called? You know, the one where he had to outsmart the bad guys, be spy-like, and really think outside the box and save innocent people’s lives? Oh yeah I think that was called Batm… err Argo, which he won an Academy Award for!
Let us go back through the history of movie casting:
- When Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Iron Man, people thought he would be TERRIBLE because of his past. This actually helped his character and made him the face of Iron Man.
- When Christian Bale was cast, people still thought of him as a small actor who would be terrible.
- Heath Ledger was BASHED up and down the street because of his pretty face when he signed on to play the Joker. Now most people now consider him the greatest Joker ever portrayed.
- Daniel Craig as James Bond… people did go crazy about it which most of you should remember, since it was just a few years ago.
- Chris Evans was the Human Torch and was thought of as a terrible actor. Uhh, have you seen London? And now he IS Captain America.
- Chris Hemsworth looks like an Abercrombie and Fitch model and he was in Star Trek, but now he IS Thor.
- Hugh Jackman was a broadway star. How in the hell is he going to be the ferocious Wolverine? Go remove your foot from your mouth now.
“But Ben Affleck is nothing like Bruce Wayne.”
Well there is this thing called acting, where straight actors pretend to be gay, gay actors pretend to be straight, people pretend to be jedis, super heroes, cartoons, and other things that don’t exist in the real world. BUT if you want to get technical, let’s think about this.
Ben Affleck is a 41 years old and will be 43 when this comes out, meaning he is the right age. He has that charm and a very defined jawline that we all remember Bruce Wayne bearing from the animated series, and he knows how to play a rich cocky playboy like Bruce Wayne (see Boiler Room). He also generally plays a very quiet, pissed off and thoughtful actor. Watch The Town and Argo and you will know exactly what I mean, which is pretty much what Bruce Wayne is behind closed doors.
“He doesn’t know how to play the world’s greatest detective and save the world from destruction.”
See his Academy Award winning movie called Argo. There’s also this sweet-ass movie called Smoking Aces. He also helped save the world in Armageddon (P.S. Man of Steel’s Superman did more destruction than all the meteors in Armageddon combined).
“Daredevil was the worst super hero movie ever.”
Well first of all, let’s look at Exhibit A, Ghost Rider 2. Every major studio actor has had a terrible movie on their acting career resume if not a few.
“He can’t be a serious actor.”
Have you seen Good Will Hunting, Man About Town, Pearl Harbor and HollywoodLand?
”He was already Daredevil.”
Well that’s a completely different universe. Cap was also Human Torch, Punisher: War Zone (the shitty third movie) was also Volstagg in Thor, and Green Lantern was “Deadpool”.
“He doesn’t have Batman’s voice.”
Seriously? Everyone hated the voice of both Batman, and Bane’s voice is often mocked. Christian Bale and Tom Hardy do not sound like that in real life. It would be just as easy to have Ben Affleck’s voice changed.
“It is too fast for a reboot or change in actors.”
The Hulk changed 3 times in what, 10 years? The 90s Batman movies had 3 different Batmen with a movie nearly every 2 years. We changed Superman twice in 7 years. We have a new Spider-Man within 5 years… That’s pretty much the norm now.
NOW let’s consider the story line. Batman and Superman are fighting. Ben Affleck has fight training and is in great shape. He can also pull off the suave, old-man-Wayne look if he has to for the Dark Knight Returns storyline. I also highly doubt he is going to bring in Matt Damon as Robin/Nightwing as many of you have joked. Also how many of you actually read the New 52 Batman regularly? I reread through some of Court of the Owls and Death of the Family. If you do this, it is very easy to picture Ben Affleck in this role.
Overall, the internet just really needs to give him a chance and really look at Zack Snyder, since it is he who will determine the fate of this movie. And to quote Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, “Affleck was the Bomb in Phantoms.”
“Word, bitch, Phantoms like a motherfucker!”
