Ben Affleck's Batman: What Went Wrong?

5. Sad Affleck & Batman V Superman's Failure

After the initial scepticism, there was some promise ahead of Batman v Superman's release. The trailers weren't great, but they did do a pretty decent job of showcasing Affleck's take on the Dark Knight.

Unfortunately, then the reviews hit, which a then blissfully unaware Affleck was asked about during an interview for the film, his forlorn look getting the meme treatment. Yes, Affleck was saying hello to his old friend darknes as, after being so reluctant to take on another comic book role after Daredevil, he was getting panned for a superhero performance yet again. Although that wasn't exactly a disaster, with the internet quickly moving on, it was indicative of how things would go from then on out.

Batman v Superman released in March 2016 after said negative reviews, and while it wasn't a complete bomb at the box-office, it was a big disappointment. The previous two Batman movies had grossed over $1bn, so for a movie that had Bats AND Supes in the title to take in $873m (against a budget of $250m) just wasn't good enough, especially not when combined with the poor reception.

In fairness, though, the fault wasn't with Affleck, but more the overall grimdark tone of the movie, its muddled plotting, a lack of actual Batman v Superman action, weak villains, and Snyder's themes not quite meshing with making an entertaining blockbuster of the ilk people had come to expect from a Batman film. Even four years on, the spectre of Christopher Nolan's take loomed large, and that didn't help the movie's performance any either. Suffice to say, even for fans of the movie, it wasn't an encouraging start to his time in the Batsuit, nor the DCEU as a whole. Still, it wasn't as though Batman v Superman released and Affleck suddenly started questioning his entire involvement, but the beginning was also the beginning of the end given how the DCEU failed to truly launch.