Former Batman actor Ben Affleck reflects on what really went wrong with his take on the character during his time in the DC Extended Universe. In a wide-ranging interview with GQ, Affleck discussed his Batman years and offered his take on why it ultimately didn’t work out in the long run. While he “had a really good time” bringing the Dark Knight to life and appreciated the concept of portraying an older, grizzled Bruce Wayne, he eventually noticed that there was a disconnect between Zack Snyder’s vision for the franchise and what Warner Bros. wanted. It was actually Affleck’s kid who made him realize there was an issue.
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“I had a really good time. I loved doing the Batman movie. I loved Batman v Superman,” Affleck said. “And I liked my brief stints on The Flash that I did and when I got to work with Viola Davis on Suicide Squad for a day or two. In terms of creatively, I really think that I like the idea and the ambition that I had for it, which was of the sort of older, broken, damaged Bruce Wayne. And it was something we really went for in the first movie.
“But what happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience,” he added. “Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch the movie. And so when I saw that I was like, ‘Oh s—, we have a problem.’ Then I think that’s when you had a filmmaker that wanted to continue down that road and a studio that wanted to recapture all the younger audience at cross purposes. Then you have two entities, two people really wanting to do something different and that is a really bad recipe.”
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Including the Snyder Cut of Justice League, Affleck appeared as Batman in five DC Comics adaptations, alternating between headlining roles (Batman v Superman, Justice League) and cameos (Suicide Squad, The Flash). At one point, he was going to direct a solo film for his Batman, but that project eventually changed hands to Matt Reeves and became The Batman, a franchise reboot set in a separate continuity starring Robert Pattinson in the titular role.
From the beginning (2013’s Man of Steel), the DC Extended Universe received a mixed critical reception, with many people taking issue with Snyder’s grounded, serious tone. Things reached a breaking point with the theatrical cut of Justice League, which was a widely panned box office bomb. Infamously, Joss Whedon was brought in to oversee extensive reshoots, and his style clashed with Snyder’s. The end result was a mishmash of visions that effectively killed the DCEU. Now, James Gunn and Peter Safran are overseeing the DC Universe reboot.
Darker Batman adaptations have achieved a great deal of success over the years, as Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga illustrate. What made the DCEU unique when compared to those franchises is that it was WB’s attempt to replicate the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was breaking box office records with largely family-friendly fare. If Affleck’s son didn’t want to watch his dad be Batman, it was a sign the studio had lost a key demographic it was hoping to appeal to. This is why WB attempted to course correct with Justice League and lighten the tone, but that obviously didn’t land with the intended results. Snyder fans were upset over the film becoming such a deviation from its original vision, and casual moviegoers weren’t interested. WB had no choice but to hit the reset button after this.
It’s a shame, because Affleck’s performance as Batman (particularly in Batman v Superman) was well-received. Many fans enjoyed his take on a world-weary Dark Knight and would have liked to see him star in several more projects. At the same time, WB’s interest in something that skewed a little more family-friendly is understandable. Kids are a big part of Marvel’s audience and WB wants to be able to tap into that with DC. While the Batman Epic Crime saga certainly leans towards an older demographic (The Penguin is rated TV-MA), the film The Brave and the Bold is in development at DC Studios. Separate from Pattinson’s take, this is an opportunity for the filmmakers to craft a Batman movie that’s lighter and might appeal to the youngsters. Especially with members of the Bat Family running around, The Brave and the Bold could prove to be the perfect counterpoint to The Batman, giving fans of the Caped Crusader multiple choices depending on their preferences.
