The world cried out in horror at the prospect of Ben Affleck portraying Batman in the Man of Steel sequel. Audiences everywhere fear that the actor will bring total ruin to the Dark Knight of Gotham’s reputation. But what if he doesn’t?
Pardon my asking, but what if he plays his character to the hilt and delivers a fantastic performance?
It seems as though many are choosing to highlight Affleck’s admittedly subpar performance in “Daredevil” and “Armageddon” while forgetting his critically acclaimed roles in “Good Will Hunting” and, more recently, “Argo.” Since I can’t foretell the future, I can’t say that he’s going to be fantastic, but I can say that there’s potential there.
Moreover, a lot of people will act as though Christian Bale wrote the story of Batman. In my opinion, I don’t think he did as good a job as he could have, particularly in the vocal department. I’m not saying that the script was out of character—Every time Bale speaks with the mask on in The Dark Knight, he sounds like a garbage disposal.
In many ways, it’s fascinating to see a character like Batman go through changes in live-action film. Over time, Batman’s outfit has become increasingly armored, and his personality has only grown grimmer. Those who compare the “Christian Bale Batman” with the “Adam West Batman” side-by-side could find that the two are not the same.
Along the same vein, different actors bring different physiologies and quirks to the table with each new interpretation of Batman in film, but Batman has remained comparatively stagnant in animation. While Batman has been acted out by at least seven different actors over his cinematic history, fans of Batman’s adventures in other mediums know Kevin Conroy has always voiced Batman in animation. Aside from nearly every animated version of Batman there is, Conroy has also voiced Batman in multiple video games, including “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” “Batman: Arkham City,” and “Injustice: Gods Among Us.”
Batman is a character that’s gone through multiple changes in movies over the years. He’s survived bad performances before, and he’ll survive them in the future. Affleck’s selection isn’t the end of the world, but we should reserve judgment as to whether or not he deserves a second shot at the role until we’ve actually seen the movie.