Ben Affleck, friend to Kevin Smith and current incarnation of the Batman, is certainly making the rounds to promote Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Early reports have been glowing for Affleck’s take on the character so I think all of the hate directed towards the Batfleck have been unfounded. Remember when they cast Heath as the Joker? People went nuts! Okay, so getting off of my soapbox, Ben Affleck recently had a huge interview with Entertainment Weekly. He covers all sorts of ground; everything from his touch on the character of the Dark Knight to the existence of Robin and Wonder Woman! You do remember seeing the Robin costume, right?
Referring to his take on the character, Affleck said, “Oh gosh, I wouldn’t. I would leave that for other people to say. What I wanted was to create a Batman that was sort of at the end of his rope physically and psychologically and emotionally, a guy who was beaten down by the world, a guy who was a little bit more of a slugger, who has more gray in his hair, and who was questioning whether the whole journey that he lived as Batman was in fact even worth it, given that he was not a superhero, but now had to face a super-being, which none of the other Batmans had to confront in the movie world. It’s an interesting thing to combine, because in the Nolan Batmans, which are the defining Batmans — so magnificent — there are no other superheroes. It’s just this guy. He never has to reconcile who he is with this idea that there are all these other people who can do these supernatural things. Having to confront that and having to deal with that is my contribution to the character.” At least he’s being humble, right?
When asked if Batman is projecting his frustration on the Man of Steel, Affleck answered, “Yeah, he’s projecting in some ways his own sense of failure, his own sense of disillusionment, his own cynicism onto Superman, having at one point been certainly much more idealistic about what he was doing. He’s also always been kind of a dark guy. You can’t go out at night and avenge crime the way he does, obviously, without a darker view of the world, but you can see that this probably contributes in some degree to the greater cycle of violence. And that doesn’t put an end to crime. There’s a line about weeds just cropping up and criminals are like weeds, you just pull more of them and they grow back. He’s very disillusioned and very bitter.” He then added, eluding to Robin, “He’s bitterly disappointed in the past that he’s lost this guy who fought by his side. That character’s death must have been devastating to him, and he’s suffered. We get the sense that he’s suffered a lot of devastating losses before this movie even starts.”
What about Wonder Woman? How does the Batfleck respond to her, considering he isn’t a real fan of the Last Son of Krypton? “It inspires in him the idea that well, if there’s one of these kinds of people out there, then maybe there are in fact more,” stated Ben. “If there are more, then maybe that’s hopeful and also terrifying to him, because then they could make humans even more powerless —or they could serve on our side. You’ve got to remember that Batman is the world’s greatest detective, and if he suspects that there may be more, and if he suspects in particular that Diana may be somebody special, he gets inspired.” Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens up on March 25th, 2016 and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, and Gal Gadot.
