With last Thursday's announcement and the subsequent explosion of the Internet that Ben Affleck will be the new Batman, a large number of people have chimed in with intense negativity. They can't picture Affleck as Batman and think he's a terrible choice, pointing to past films such as Pearl Harbor and specifically Daredevil to prove their point. Many believe it is one of the worst casting choices ever made and are spewing some very harsh criticism towards him. While I personally can't quite picture him as Batman at the moment, I am going into this with an open mind. As of right now, though, I have yet to see one legitimate argument for why Ben Affleck is such a terrible choice. Everyone on the extreme side of negativity should calm down and take a moment to actually examine the decision with these few reasons...
5. The Mistake Of Daredevil
To begin with, Ben Affleck is not the same actor he was ten years ago. It seems everyone is quick to bring up his flops from around then, namely Daredevil, Gigli and Pearl Harbor, as evidence as to why he'll suck as Batman. Yes, those films were critical and commercial failures and his choice to join Gigli was questionable, but it is important to note that he had very little creative input on any of those films. He was a big name in Hollywood, but not big enough for any suggestions he might have had to be taken seriously. Michael Bay directed Pearl Harbor and I shouldn't have to explain how little he cares about story, characters and expert direction. Affleck has been very open about his experience on Daredevil, stating it did not turn out the way he wanted it to and would have done things differently if he could. When speaking about the possibility of playing Daredevil again, Affleck said in 2006 "By playing a superhero in Daredevil, I have inoculated myself from ever playing another superhero. Wearing a costume was a source of humiliation for me and something I would not want to do again soon." Though the fan backlash would have certainly caused him to have these feelings, the way Daredevil was filmed and produced seems to have caused more bitterness with him than anything the fans ever said. Let's also remember that Affleck is himself a big fan and strong advocate of superhero characters and their films; if anyone is to treat the cape and cowl with the utmost respect it is surely him.