15 Perfect Superhero Casting Choices Wasted On Terrible Comic Book Movies

2. Ben Affleck As Batman - Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice

Ben Affleck Bruce Wayne Batman V Superman
Warner Bros. Pictures

When it was first announced that Ben Affleck would portray Batman in the sequel to Man of Steel, the internet pretty much just ate itself. Affleck had been reviled for lacklustre performances across the board during the first half of the noughties - with Daredevil and Gigli the two biggest offenders - but had since managed to turn his career around both in front of and behind the camera.

The likes of The Town and Argo had both been met with almost universal praise, but most still thought Affleck an odd choice to replace Christian Bale. Despite this, by the time Batman V Superman came into theatres in 2016, Affleck had largely managed to prove his doubters wrong. His performance as the Caped Crusader was pretty much pitch-perfect, embodying both the physical and mental aspects of the character in a manner that harkened back to Miller's Dark Knight Returns.

Unfortunately, that last part was also what ended up wasting Affleck's talents. The Dark Knight of Batman V Superman was psychotic, and managed to rack up a body count that would've made Frank Castle blush. Factor in his use of firearms (also a big no-no, as far as Bruce Wayne is concerned), and Zack Snyder somehow managed to give audiences the most and yet somehow also least authentic depiction of Batman ever put to screen, with Affleck the biggest victim.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.