Not All Ben Affleck Batman Doubters Are The Same

All “Batfleck” Doubters Are Not The Same

Since I have not been living under a rock for the past couple of years, I have been aware of this Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. I heard the collective outcry across the internet when it was announced Ben Affleck would be playing Batman. I was personally not excited by the casting decision. Now before you start, allow me to please explain my point. Yes, there were plenty of people throwing a crybaby hissy fit at the news. My ex hates the guy with a passion (don’t worry that’s not why we broke up). But as the title says we’re all not the same.

Allow me to put it this way. Say that there’s an actor who you’ve seen in a number of movies and this actor has never impressed you with their acting. Their greatest performance could be best described by you as “meh”. Now imagine that actor being cast as one of your favorite characters in film. Is it that unreasonable to think, “Hey I think that’s not good casting and I don’t think that’ll work?” I fail to see it as such, especially when you’re someone like me who feels that way but also is always willing to say, “Let’s wait and see the film, maybe he’ll be good, I hope he’s good, I hope I like this movie.” Now some would counter someone like me by reminding me that my favorite Batman is Michael Keaton who also got a HUGE backlash from his casting. Which for me is precisely why I want to give Ben Affleck a chance. I could come out of the theater saying, “Ben Affleck is the new best Batman on film.” Again I personally doubt that’ll happen; what’s more likely for me is, “He was okay as Batman, better than Kilmer and Clooney.” BUT like I said, let’s wait and see. There is a lot of good working for him, the Batsuit and Batmobile look way better than anything in the Nolan films and he’s a comic book fan in real life. So in summation, I don’t think Affleck will be a very good Batman, there are other actors who would have been a much better fit in my opinion, but let’s see how he does before we decide and react accordingly (I’ll be the first to admit if I think he’s a great Batman and not hide the egg on my face from articles like this).

However what fascinates me just as much as the backlash for Batfleck are all the people jumping to his defense. Now that there are people rushing to his defense, he has his fans, he gained a huge amount of respect (from me as well) for his directing, so I expected and can’t argue with that. What troubles me a bit is how his defenders seem to see any person not onboard with Ben Affleck is a backwards thinking, can’t get over “Gigli” snob and must be shown the light. When the recent “Batman V Superman” trailer came out my comments were pretty damn good but of Ben Affleck I said, “Affleck as Batman… he doesn’t look bad, can’t say I’m sold but I’m more open to the idea, we’ll see,” which I think is fairly positive but I still had a friend telling me I was being pessimistic. And looking through other people’s threads, status comments, etc. I see much the same. “You don’t believe Affleck’s going to be da bomb as Batman? You just want to see him fail! Daredevil was 12 years ago!”

This is not a “Why Ben Affleck is Going to Suck as Batman” article, this is a “You do Realize Someone Like Me Going, ‘I Don’t Think It’ll Work But Let’s Give Him a Chance’ is Different From a ‘Oh My God Ben Affleck?! Nooooo!!!! He’s Worse Than Hitler!!!!’” article. Hopefully I’ve explained my point of view and clarified both sides so we can now have a more harmonious conversation when talking about “Batman V Superman” from now on.