In Defense of Ben Affleck

On Thursday, August 22^nd, Warner Brothers announced that Ben Affleck would be playing the role of Batman in the Man of Steel sequel, Batman vs. Superman, as well as additional sequels.

Within an hour, ten million cries of anguish rose up via the internet and joined as one. Like a giant, bloated, fuzzy-bellied locust, it devoured the sun, and the stars went dark, and the sky wept ashes.

I got the news later that night, and Affleck was already getting shellacked from all sides. Probably twenty friends reached out to me via text, Facebook, Twitter and phone, freaking out over the news. I mostly kept silent, but honestly, I didn’t understand the cruelty people were dishing out.

Yes, the announcement surprised me at first. I imagined Warner Brothers would bring in someone younger, a not-quite-unknown like they did with Henry Cavill for the role of Superman in Man of Steel. But the decision is making more and more sense to me.

Here are my arguments why Batman vs. Superman and its sequels will be fine. Let me preface this by saying I don’t consider myself a Ben Affleck “fan,” exactly, but I think he’s a good actor, and the movies he’s written and/or directed have been great.

Argument #1: For those of you whose concern is that “he doesn’t look like Batman,” I say: bullshit. He’s got leading man looks, he was in great shape for The Town, and at 6’3” he’ll be the tallest Batman ever. Granted, he’s lean, and not the enormous pillar of muscle you might hope for, but none of the Batman actors have been. With the trainers Warner Brothers will have on call for this, packing on 15 or 20 pounds of muscle before shooting will not be a problem. If you doubt that, watch 300, and then watch any of those actors in other movies.

Argument #2: “He’s a lousy actor.” Again, bullshit. Love him or hate him, despite the epic flops he’s been a part of, he’s a serious actor who increasingly stars in award-winning movies. And his ability to reinvent himself and come back from crap like Gigli is a testament to his talents. Leading me to my next point:

Argument #3: He’s an A-list DIRECTOR. He directed The Town and Argo, both of which are fantastic movies that won multiple awards, including Oscars and Golden Globes. The Nolan Batman movies were incredible, and now we have yet another Oscar-winning director and writer to potentially direct, write, AND STAR in a new Batman series. And in my opinion, Affleck tends to do his best acting in movies he directs. The actor alone doesn’t make the movie, as we saw with the offensively horrible Batman and Robin. If Affleck also directs the Batman sequels, which I suspect he will, they’re in good hands.

Argument #4: Batman represents the pinnacle of human achievement and discipline. After the sky-high expectations set by the Nolan/Bale movies, who could live up to that?

From Batman/Superman #1, art by Jae Lee

Argument #5: I was expecting a young, relatively unknown Batman to be cast, but casting Batman a little older is a great idea. Superman will always have the physical advantage, but Batman’s the character who’s always prepared, always smarter, always a step ahead. Having him be the elder statesman, who’s still young enough to be physically powerful but has also been doing this for a while by the time Superman shows up, makes perfect sense story-wise.

Argument #6: Just for perspective, lest we forget:

Heath Ledger, the guy from 10 Things I Hate About You, became a timeless, perfect Joker in The Dark Knight.

Daniel Craig, a skinny blonde guy who’d never been cast in a major leading role, became the most bad-ass, most complex and all-around best James Bond ever for Casino Royale. (And he got even more abuse going in than Affleck is getting now.)