Ben Affleck Discusses the Legacy He Wants to Leave as Batman
In about two weeks, Ben Affleck debuts as Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In a recent interview with EW, the actor talked about his character and the legacy he hopes to leave as the caped crusader. When asked what his contribution would be to the Dark Knight’s legacy, Affleck said:
“Oh gosh, I wouldn’t. I would leave that for other people to say. What I wanted was to create a Batman that was sort of at the end of his rope physically and psychologically and emotionally, a guy who was beaten down by the world, a guy who was a little bit more of a slugger, who has more gray in his hair, and who was questioning whether the whole journey that he lived as Batman was in fact even worth it, given that he was not superhero, but now had to face a super-being, which none of the other Batmans had to confront in the movie world. It’s an interesting thing to combine, because in the Nolan Batmans, which are the defining Batmans — so magnificent — there are no other superheroes. It’s just this guy. He never has to reconcile who he is with this idea that there are all these other people who can do these supernatural things. Having to confront that and having to deal with that is my contribution to the character.”
When Affleck was first cast in the role a lot of fans were pissed off, but I thought it was an unexpected but great choice. From what we’ve seen of him in the role of the character so far, it seems like he’s going to pull it off awesomely! Will fanboys and fangirls forgive him for Daredevil? Well, that’s something we’ll just have to wait and see. He also spoke about Batman and where he is projecting his anger in the film:
“Yeah, he’s projecting in some ways his own sense of failure, his own sense of disillusionment, his own cynicism onto Superman, having at one point been certainly much more idealistic about what he was doing. He’s also always been kind of a dark guy. You can’t go out at night and avenge crime the way he does, obviously, without a darker view of the world, but you can see that this probably contributes in some degree to the greater cycle of violence. And that doesn’t put an end to crime. There’s a line about weeds just cropping up and criminals are like weeds, you just pull more of them and they grow back. He’s very disillusioned and very bitter.”
He spoke about the devastating effect that the death of Robin had on Gotham City’s hero:
“He’s bitterly disappointed in the past that he’s lost this guy who fought by his side. That character’s death must have been devastating to him, and he’s suffered. We get the sense that he’s suffered a lot of devastating losses before this movie even starts.”
We’ve previously learned that the stories of these tragic loses, like Robin, might be included in the Batman solo film that Affleck is currently helping develop. Affleck was also asked about Wonder Woman and how the character plays into Batman’s thinking. This was his reply:
“It inspires in him the idea that well, if there’s one of these kinds of people out there, then maybe there are in fact more. If there are more, then maybe that’s hopeful and also terrifying to him, because then they could make humans even more powerless — or they could serve on our side. You’ve got to remember that Batman is the world’s greatest detective, and if he suspects that there may be more, and if he suspects in particular that Diana may be somebody special, he gets inspired.”
Batman v Superman is going to be the start of something really exciting and epic. I’m rooting for Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. to succeed. I really want to see these films be awesome and spectacular in every way. It’s going to be cool to see how far they take these characters.