Ben Affleck as the new Batman – Ben’s my Batman!

By Alicia Hooper

Alicia Hooper tries to convince Roar! readers to give the divisive new Batman actor a chance!

The news of Ben Affleck being cast for the role of Batman in the upcoming film, Man of Steel, has caused quite a stir for many comic book fans. On hearing the news, Twitter alone went a bit crazy. The reactions to this news created huge debates on the web and many were mocking the controversial choice. For example Comedy Central tweeted, ‘Casting Ben Affleck as Batman sounds like something The Joker would do to create a distraction at the nerd bank’ and comedian Jim Gaffigan tweeted, ‘I’d react to Ben Affleck getting an acting role but I’m still recovering from Beyonce’s haircut.’ Many people seem to believe it was a huge mistake to cast the twice Academy Award winning actor in the role of the much loved superhero. But I just don’t understand this!

Affleck has been found by many to have failed in his role as the blind superhero Daredevil and people seem to think that due to this performance, he will not succeed as Batman. But I disagree. Yes, I agree that Daredevil was not the best film, or acting on his part. But Batman is a completely different superhero and can be played in a totally different way.

Affleck could be excellent at bringing both the anger and aggression of Batman, with the vulnerability that’s definitely hidden within the character. There’s no doubt that Affleck is a brilliant actor and action films such as Armageddon prove that he can entertain in a big blockbuster action flick. However, he does have a lot to prove after his past film fails such as Gigli and Jersey Girl, both of which got him nominated for worst actor awards. However, Affleck made a huge comeback last year with Argo and now just seems to be getting better and better.

This part gives Affleck the perfect opportunity to prove that he has the capability of playing a great superhero, but he just needs to make sure he gets the complex balance right. Although every woman loved Clooney as the dark and mysterious Batman, he simply lacked the depth of character and just seemed too nice! Christian Bale, undeniably, was an excellent Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. He was cool, aggressive and sensitive at times. However, his Batman voice just let him down due to the deep and sometimes hard to understand tones, which hopefully won’t be mimicked by Affleck in this new film.

Ben Affleck will definitely deliver in this role and bring a more mature and dark nature to the character, which perhaps won’t have been seen before. Audiences just need to give him an opportunity to prove himself and with Ben Affleck as Batman, it would be the perfect chance to make Matt Damon Robin!