5. Name Recognition
This is where the anti-Affleck camp will immediately disagree, but they clearly haven't been paying attention. Ben Affleck is a big name star. Anyone who doubts that needs to have their head examined. He's bigger than anyone that's been cast as a superhero in any Marvel movie sans Robert Downey, Jr. and even RDJ wasn't that big a star prior to Iron Man. Why is this important? Because Batman is not in the same place he was in back in 2005. In 2005, Batman was eight years removed from Batman & Robin, quite possibly the most infamous superhero film ever. As big a star as George Clooney was in 1997, even he couldn't save that movie. In fact, his star power may have been a hindrance as evidence that the studio was only interested in selling Batman on a superficial level, scooping up a hot name star to sell toys. So, when time came to cast Batman in 2005, it wasn't as important to cast a big name. Christian Bale was not cast for his mainstream appeal as much as he was for his dedication as an actor. This was needed in order to reestablish the character as the serious literary figure he was always meant to be. Thanks to Bale and a little-known director named Christopher Nolan, three films later and Batman is now back to being a serious character that big stars want to play; the kind of stars that get their names above the movie titles on posters. This is important because of the nature of the film we are about to be presented. Henry Cavill's Superman has had a film all to himself to establish his character. It was quite a successful film as well. This puts our new Batman at a bit of a disadvantage. One could argue that Warner Brothers could produce a single, solo Batman outing to give this new Batman a new origin in order to even things out between the two heroes, but who in their right mind wants to make another Batman origin film after Christopher Nolan? Enter Ben Affleck, an actor with the experience and marketability to instantly give this new Batman credibility in the eyes of the public. You don't need an origin when you've got a guy like Affleck. He's not someone who needs to be introduced to the public. Whatever advantage Cavill had as Superman is nonexistent. In fact, I would say that it's Cavill who's at a disadvantage in this case. He's nowhere near the same star level that Affleck is at this point in his career. There's no risk of an inexperienced actor folding under high expectations (and, let's face it, expectations will be at an all time high). Affleck will walk into the role confident and as well-known as anyone playing a new Batman against an established Superman would have to be. That leads us to the next reason Ben Affleck as Batman is a good idea...