Though some are sure to disagree, Ben Affleck ultimately proved his doubters wrong with his interpretation of The DCEU's Dark Knight, but there was a significant amount of backlash when it was first announced that he'd be playing the iconic DC Comics hero opposite Henry Cavill in Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Though Affleck was forced to deal with this sort of negativity from fans in the past, the Daredevil actor admitted to feeling hurt by the reaction when he appeared on the Howard Stern Show.
"I was hurt. I was less hurt than I would've been 10 years earlier," he said when asked about the "insane" fans. "But I was hurt because I felt like 'Wait a minute, come on. What do I got to do to' you know what I mean? Like, I'm just you know, like, 'Jesus Christ'."
"I thought it was an interesting idea," he continued. "But you know what? I also realized, 'Now this turns into a petition.' Now they got this thing, everybody's going to do a petition [protesting my casting as Batman]. A hundred thousand [people], you signed a f*cking petition. Like, you have anything better to do with your day than sign petitions? But, ironically, the reason I did this is I wanted to do a movie for my kids, particularly my son, that they would see and be proud of."
Affleck decided to hang up the cape and cowl following what he describes as a "difficult" time working on Justice League, though he did return to shoot additional scenes for the "Snyder Cut," and will appear in The Flash for what's believed to be a small role for his take on the Caped Crusader.
Although Affleck said he had a "lot of fun" working on the movie in a previous interview, The Flash is expected to mark his final time playing the character.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.