Nerd Rage! Ben Affleck will be Batman

Warner Brothers has officially announced Ben Affleck will be going toe-to-toe with Superman in ‘Batman vs. Superman’ and it hurts my brain to think about it.  I was hoping it was a joke, but I’m forced to quickly accept it seeing as It has already been reported by ign, variety, slashfilm, nerdist, newsarama, filmschoolrejects, and every entertainment website in the blogosphere.  This news has come incredibly early considering that the film was only announced last month and it is likely that there isn’t even a script for it yet.

This isn’t the first time Gigli has worn a superhero costume on film.  He famously played Daredevil in 2003 (Woo! 10th anniversary) and he played George Reeves as Superman in the film Hollywoodland (2006).

Writer/Director Kevin Smith tweeted his initial response.

Ben Affleck is a longtime friend of Kevin Smith since they’ve first worked together on ‘Mallrats’.  Kevin Smith has an entire podcast dedicated to the Batman called Fat Man on Batman  so he will undoubtedly be releasing his full take on the matter.  Maybe Ben Affleck will pull some strings and get Kevin Smith to appear in the movie like he did in Daredevil.

When Ben Affleck was rumored to be the director of ‘Man of Steel’ I had no problem with that.  He has proven to be a very competent director whose film ‘Argo’ won best picture.  It is likely that taking this role will keep him out of the director’s chair for any possible film he could be making instead.  He will also certainly be expected to star in ‘Justice League’ and at least a trilogy of solo Batman films afterwards, which can hold him up from directing for quite sometime (unless ends up directing those movies).

My largest concern is that I can’t picture Affleck as the man who defeats Superman (because we already know Batman beats him right?).  I also can’t even picture him as a proper Bruce Wayne.  I’m guessing any attempt to act like Bruce Wayne will perpetuate his own celebrity image and completely take me out of the film.

Personally, I was rooting for Josh Brolin to don the cape and cowl.  His age and general demeanor commands respect before he even says a word, yet he can turn the charm on when he needs to as Bruce Wayne.  I would also have been fine with a carefully casted unknown actor.  Unknowns are affordable and you can easily talk them into multi-picture contracts.  Let’s face it, Ben Affleck is going to get hefty paycheck that is mostly boistered up by his A-List status and if he hasn’t signed onto a multi-picture deal you can expect his asking price to raise up.  That means a significant chunk of the budget is going towards the name on the poster rather than the film itself, which means more product placement and possibly shittier visual effects (The difference has to be made up somehow).

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