That collective groan you heard arise from the land Friday? The announcement that Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman in the upcoming Superman vs. Batman movie elicited the negative reaction.
And I'll admit, I was one that immediately thought it was an underwhelming choice. But, as I thought about it, my position softened. I think there is a very good reason to be optimistic, even to anticipate, the outcome of this casting decision.
But before I tell you my thoughts, I'll point you to another story which outlines a number of reasons (seven, to be exact) why the "internet" is wrong about Affleck as Batman. The author's best two points, in my view, were that this exact kind of outrage followed the announcements of Heath Ledger as Joker and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in the most recent Batman movies. And the outrage was about as wrong as it could be. Ledger was brilliant as Joker, there's never been better. And Hathaway, who I doubted, nailed it as Catwoman. This leads me to why I am starting to look forward to this movie with Affleck as Batman.
Christopher Nolan. The director who oversaw the Batman movies, was executive producer for 'Man of Steel', and who has directed and/or written some of the best stories of late, is the executive producer again. I frankly think we just trust him on this. He hasn't missed yet.
Lastly, it's a Superman story. Granted, the graphic novel that will inform Batman's involvement, "The Dark Knight Returns" is quite obviously a Batman book. But the movie is a sequel to 'Man of Steel'. It will be a Superman story with Batman in it. It won't be up to Affleck to be all that Christian Bale was and carry the movie. He'll just need to be a bit better than General Zod.
I'm not worried.
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