I admit it. I was a little surprised (I’d stop short of saying upset or angry, but only just barely) to have heard who was going to be the next Batman. It is a kind of out-of-left-field choice. But I decided to take a step back and look at this whole thing from a distance. See if I could make any sense of it. That hasn’t really happened, but I’ve had about a month to read what other people thought and to see all the clever memes pertaining to this. It seems that a lot of folks are not sold on Ben Affleck as Batman.
Okay, so Mr. Affleck as the Dark Knight wasn’t what most folks had in mind. It could be worse – it could be George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Nicholas Cage or Hayden Christensen. And is this really the worst aspect of this whole thing? Not to me.
If you’re going to reboot a franchise (and I’m assuming that is the plan once the Batman/Superman … thing … comes and goes) so quickly after the initial set of movies was produced, then you might as well get some big names in the mix. It might be a good thing to be able to say “Academy Award winner” Ben Affleck in the promos.
After all, the Superman/Batman movie is being masterminded by Zack Snyder, who brought us the interesting but tepid Man of Steel and the interestinger but tepider Watchmen. In both movies, there were some elements that worked and were pretty cool, but as an overall production, I thought both fell short. Of course, both were attempting to do lofty things – translating what it was that made Watchmen and Superman such big time entities in the first place was going to be a daunting challenge no matter who was doing it.
I am sure that I am in the minority in being underwhelmed (OK, maybe I was whelmed) by Man of Steel. But I can’t get it out of my head that this Snyder guy – not Joss Whedon (Buffy, Avengers), not Jon Favreau (Iron Man and Iron Man 2), not Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight trilogy), not Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) – is handing such a crucial piece of the DC Universe.
Batman/Superman is one of the keystone movies that will be setting the stage for the long awaited Justice League movie. And after The Avengers, there’s a huge bar set for the whole team concept. Add to this the fact (well, it’s a fact to me) that Marvel’s lead-in movies (Iron Man, Thor, Iron Man 2, Captain America) were all excellent movies in their own right.
I don’t see this being the case with DC. They had a miss with Green Lantern, and The Dark Knight movies will be a distant memory by the time they get to greenlight Justice League (2017). Mix in the stupid inability to get a Wonder Woman movie concept generated or approved, and things are not looking so good. She’s a pretty major player in the team’s history and she can’t even get screen time (not since the 70’s, anyway). Even the Flash had a TV show in recent memory (1990’s) and even has a show coming soon (2016), based on the strength of Arrow.
Of course, the strength of Arrow is that it truly is a very good TV show, and lays a solid groundwork for one of the other main players in Justice League lore. If I had any complaints, it’s that I’d like to see more costumed adversaries – or at least more characters from the Green Arrow universe. But this is a small complaint – if you’re not watching the show, you should be.
I’m trying to be open minded here – I’d like to see a good Batman/Superman movie. And a good Justice League movie. I just don’t think I will. Now – Ben Affleck as Batman. Yes, this does rile up the Batman fanbase, doesn’t it? I’m not jazzed up about the choice myself. There have been many many many names floated as alternates to the casting, but none of them are going to happen, so I will not even bother to comment on that. For my money, I thought John Goodman would have been a good fit for the role…
Yes, it’s true that Affleck was Daredevil. And it’s true that many folks felt that DD was a terrible movie, myself included. But then, this just proves that DC is not the only publisher of comic books that is capable of making less than spectacular super hero movies. And that film’s writer/director, Mark Steven Johnson, is nowhere to be found.
If Batman can survive Joel Schumacher, Ahnold and Christian Bale’s somewhat incomprehensible growl, he can survive Ben Affleck. How bad could it be? It can’t be worse than Batman Forever or Batman & Robin, right?
Andy Blank
Mike Frangione
Depends on What the Meaning of the Word 'Blog' is 
Aaargh-o! Affleck as Batman
I admit it. I was a little surprised (I’d stop short of saying upset or angry, but only just barely) to have heard who was going to be the next Batman. It is a kind of out-of-left-field choice. But I decided to take a step back and look at this whole thing from a distance. See if I could make any sense of it. That hasn’t really happened, but I’ve had about a month to read what other people thought and to see all the clever memes pertaining to this. It seems that a lot of folks are not sold on Ben Affleck as Batman.
Okay, so Mr. Affleck as the Dark Knight wasn’t what most folks had in mind. It could be worse – it could be George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Nicholas Cage or Hayden Christensen. And is this really the worst aspect of this whole thing? Not to me.
If you’re going to reboot a franchise (and I’m assuming that is the plan once the Batman/Superman … thing … comes and goes) so quickly after the initial set of movies was produced, then you might as well get some big names in the mix. It might be a good thing to be able to say “Academy Award winner” Ben Affleck in the promos.
After all, the Superman/Batman movie is being masterminded by Zack Snyder, who brought us the interesting but tepid Man of Steel and the interestinger but tepider Watchmen. In both movies, there were some elements that worked and were pretty cool, but as an overall production, I thought both fell short. Of course, both were attempting to do lofty things – translating what it was that made Watchmen and Superman such big time entities in the first place was going to be a daunting challenge no matter who was doing it.
I am sure that I am in the minority in being underwhelmed (OK, maybe I was whelmed) by Man of Steel. But I can’t get it out of my head that this Snyder guy – not Joss Whedon (Buffy, Avengers), not Jon Favreau (Iron Man and Iron Man 2), not Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight trilogy), not Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) – is handing such a crucial piece of the DC Universe.
Batman/Superman is one of the keystone movies that will be setting the stage for the long awaited Justice League movie. And after The Avengers, there’s a huge bar set for the whole team concept. Add to this the fact (well, it’s a fact to me) that Marvel’s lead-in movies (Iron Man, Thor, Iron Man 2, Captain America) were all excellent movies in their own right.
I don’t see this being the case with DC. They had a miss with Green Lantern, and The Dark Knight movies will be a distant memory by the time they get to greenlight Justice League (2017). Mix in the stupid inability to get a Wonder Woman movie concept generated or approved, and things are not looking so good. She’s a pretty major player in the team’s history and she can’t even get screen time (not since the 70’s, anyway). Even the Flash had a TV show in recent memory (1990’s) and even has a show coming soon (2016), based on the strength of Arrow.
Of course, the strength of Arrow is that it truly is a very good TV show, and lays a solid groundwork for one of the other main players in Justice League lore. If I had any complaints, it’s that I’d like to see more costumed adversaries – or at least more characters from the Green Arrow universe. But this is a small complaint – if you’re not watching the show, you should be.
I’m trying to be open minded here – I’d like to see a good Batman/Superman movie. And a good Justice League movie. I just don’t think I will. Now – Ben Affleck as Batman. Yes, this does rile up the Batman fanbase, doesn’t it? I’m not jazzed up about the choice myself. There have been many many many names floated as alternates to the casting, but none of them are going to happen, so I will not even bother to comment on that. For my money, I thought John Goodman would have been a good fit for the role…
Yes, it’s true that Affleck was Daredevil. And it’s true that many folks felt that DD was a terrible movie, myself included. But then, this just proves that DC is not the only publisher of comic books that is capable of making less than spectacular super hero movies. And that film’s writer/director, Mark Steven Johnson, is nowhere to be found.
If Batman can survive Joel Schumacher, Ahnold and Christian Bale’s somewhat incomprehensible growl, he can survive Ben Affleck. How bad could it be? It can’t be worse than Batman Forever or Batman & Robin, right?