Batman and Ben Affleck 2016

For years now Batman fans have had the pleasure watching Batman come to life on the big screen. All of these actors have done a great job playing the role of Batman. With the Dark Knight triolgy ending, there will be a new Batman. The new Batman will be played by Ben Affleck in The Man of Steel and I am excited to see it. I have to confess, while I think Affleck has been great in plenty of roles and will almost certainly do well in Batman vs. Superman, I don’t typically associate him with words like “old,” “tired,” and “weary.” Sure,  at 41, he’s a decade-plus older than Cavill, but he’s a youthful-looking guy. He’s not particularly grizzled or worn or wrinkled.

Grizzled Batman

Which isn’t to say that he can’t play grizzled. You certainly saw a more weary and hardened individual in his performance as Tony Mendez in Argo. Still, I think there’s more to this Batman story – like maybe Affleck is still in line to direct the inevitable DC superhero team-up film, Justice League, as was the rumor so long ago.
On how his Batman will differ from previous portrayals of the character, particularly Christian Bale’s, Affleck said:

“I don’t want to give away too much, but the idea for the new Batman is to redefine him in a way that doesn’t compete with the Bale and Chris Nolan Batman but still exists within the Batman canon. It will be an older and wiser version, particularly as he relates to Henry Cavill’s Superman character.”

Fortunately, this is what makes Batman such a great character, especially in the reboot-happy world of movies – his versatility. As we’ve written about previously, he’s just about the only superhero who can exist inside of numerous, wildly different genres and aesthetics and tones, and do so with a great degree of success. He can be a sci-fi character, a superhero, a gritty vigilante, the World’s Greatest Detective, a wacky, campy response to the ridiculousness of 1960s comic book tropes, and on and on and on.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard that the new take on Batman might be altogether different from Nolan’s iteration – Kevin Smith’s account of seeing the new Batsuit certainly seemed to indicate a complete 180 from the Nolan design – but it’s good to hear it said out loud from one of the principal actors: Zack Snyder and Ben Affleck are definitely not trying to recapture the magic created by Nolan and Bale. This will (seemingly) be a true Bat-reboot, albeit one that doesn’t step on its predecessor’s toes in the process.

Finally, Ben Affleck revealed the movie he most regrets making:

“The only movie I actually regret is ‘Daredevil.’ It just kills me. I love that story, that character, and the fact that it got fucked up the way it did stays with me. Maybe that’s part of the motivation to do Batman.”

While I’m sure Affleck has been/will be paid handsomely for his part in Batman vs. Superman and whatever Batman-related films follow, he does come off as being genuinely interested in making the best movie (and the best Batman) possible. It’s hard not to believe him when he says he thinks the pre-production stuff looks “incredible.”
Weary or not, grizzled or not, this is a guy who clearly didn’t need to sign up to play Batman. Coming off the Academy Award-winning Argo, he could’ve done a hundred other less complicated projects, but something about this one made him want to sign up. Let’s hope that’s a sign of there being something truly “incredible” in store for us. Because let’s face it – if they screw up this adaptation of World’s Finest, it’ll be a while before we ever see a reboot that does it justice.