JUSTICE LEAGUE Star Ben Affleck Admits To Feeling "Hurt" By Batman Casting Backlash

JUSTICE LEAGUE Star Ben Affleck Admits To Feeling "Hurt" By Batman Casting Backlash

Though he has won (most) fans over since, there was a significant amount of backlash when Ben Affleck was cast as the DCEU's Batman. Now, the actor has admitted to feeling hurt by the reaction.

By MarkCassidy - Jan 06, 2022 06:01 PM EST
Filed Under: Batman vs. Superman

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.

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TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 1/6/2022, 6:06 PM
Guess nobody told him to stay off the Internet.
ColdSlither
ColdSlither - 1/6/2022, 8:46 PM
@TheWalkingCuban - He didn't learn that from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back? LOL
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 1/6/2022, 9:18 PM
@ColdSlither - RIGHT! Duuuuuuude too perfect
grif
grif - 1/6/2022, 6:09 PM
loved yah ben its all good
incredibleTalk
incredibleTalk - 1/6/2022, 7:49 PM
@grif - Fans can be so wrong about these things including me...
Didn't like Jason Momoa as Aquaman..I was WRONG
Didn't want Chris Evans playing my favorite hero...I was WRONG
Didn't think Downey could be a serious hero Ironman...I was WRONG
Didn't think Paul Rudd could play Antman...I was WRONG
Didn't think Hugh Jackman was short enough to play Wolverine(he still isn't but) he grew on me...I was WRONG
Didn't like Garfields Spiderman but after watching his interaction with the other Spidermen I've had a change of heart and now actually watched both movies all the way through...I was somewhat WRONG
wasn't sure about the Chadwick casting at first...boy was I sooooo F@#$ing WRONG!!!!!
tylerzero
tylerzero - 1/6/2022, 8:51 PM
@incredibleTalk -

tripttwe
tripttwe - 1/7/2022, 3:11 AM
@grif - 🙄 from grif??? 🤔 You good Ben. You GOOD. FTR- I am a fan of both him and Cavill as the duo. I'd like to see them together instead of in opposion. Penny, penny.
Humperdink
Humperdink - 1/7/2022, 12:14 PM
@incredibleTalk -

I was fine with all of those casting choices, I was more concerned about how the projects turned out.

Comic fans have to realize that the films aren't made to specifically please them. We're a small fraction of the ticket buyers (hell, based on the numbers, people barely buy enough comics to keep that industry afloat) the general public is the target.

So we can complain about comic accurate casting but at the end of the day the millions of other ticket buyers for these films have never even heard of Mysterio. They just want to see a Spider-man film.

Besides, even when they get the casting right everything can sitll go wrong if the producers don't care about the material. Josh Brolin was a good choice for Jonah Hex but the movie was garbage.

DannRamm113
DannRamm113 - 1/6/2022, 6:09 PM
I mean...he did endure the most amount of backlash I've seen (I was only like 10 when Heath was announced as the Joker so none of that meant anything to me)

I think now its kinda common knowledge to stay off the internet and stay out of the comments if headlining such a huge character like Batman, but even 8 years ago, yeah it was probably a jolt as he was such a huge Batman fan
DannRamm113
DannRamm113 - 1/6/2022, 6:10 PM
I think now the most disgusting I've seen was Kelly Marie Tran post Last Jedi and Shailene Woodley during Amazing Spider-Man 2
bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 1/6/2022, 6:13 PM
@DannRamm113 - hating on an actor because of the role they played is something I'll never understand.

Didn't know Woodley got shit though, thought that was a pretty solid casting for that world
Origame
Origame - 1/6/2022, 6:19 PM
@bkmeijer - exactly. I can get not liking someone in a role, but do they really expect these actors to say no to playing batman? I can guarantee if anyone here was offered the role, they'd take it in a heartbeat. And no one here is gonna be on the same level as a professional actor like Ben Affleck.
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 1/6/2022, 6:27 PM
@DannRamm113 - Heath got a lot of heat (...), although I always heard Warner got THOUSANDS of letters back in 1988 when Michael Keaton was casted.

Still, the fact very few people complained about "the guy from Twilight" got cast as Batman, proves that maybe, just maybe, we are finally learning.
newhire13
newhire13 - 1/6/2022, 6:38 PM
@DannRamm113 - It’s mostly losers who’d be laughed out of a casting room themselves
DTor91
DTor91 - 1/6/2022, 6:39 PM
@bkmeijer - Yeah, disgustingly misogynistic when it came to Woodley too. She was attacked for her looks especially.
HulkisHoly
HulkisHoly - 1/6/2022, 6:43 PM
@TheHumanSpider2 -

I think people have learned from the Heath situation not to judge a book by its cover.
NegativeNerd
NegativeNerd - 1/6/2022, 7:13 PM
@bkmeijer - Some people, including Josh (who made an article on it IIRC) basically said Woodley was too ugly to play MJ.
mrbioshock1984
mrbioshock1984 - 1/6/2022, 7:43 PM
@DannRamm113 - The kids on this site was hating hard Shailene Woodley because they have boy crushes on Emma Stone! It was so funny like they had a chance or something 🤣.
patmanqc
patmanqc - 1/6/2022, 8:58 PM
@DannRamm113 - You should have been around when Michael Keaton was casted Batman. This was before the Internet and people about lost their minds
dagenspear
dagenspear - 1/6/2022, 11:09 PM
@DTor91 - While I don't really agree with the casting still, actually attacking the actor for it makes no sense, from either perspective. She didn't cast herself.
bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 1/7/2022, 12:48 AM
@NegativeNerd @DTor91 - guess there are some things I'll never understand
NegativeNerd
NegativeNerd - 1/10/2022, 1:27 PM
@bkmeijer - You and me both
bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 1/6/2022, 6:11 PM
Yeah he's definitely right that signing petitions on such matters is a waste of time. Not sure about the part of doing it for his kids. Could've picked a less murdering hero to play.

Did like his casting though, especially since a) he fit that TDKR look just right and b) I had no idea what kinda wack-ass version he was gonna be turned into. In hindsight though, he should've stayed away from such a shit role (which wasn't his fault)
PartyBoy
PartyBoy - 1/6/2022, 6:13 PM
Ben is awesome in the role.

“Warehouse Scene Batman” will live forever.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 1/6/2022, 6:19 PM
@PartyBoy - it’s a cool scene but made zero sense. Martha should’ve been burned alive the minute he hit the first thug
PartyBoy
PartyBoy - 1/6/2022, 6:26 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Not sure I agree.

Even the dumbest criminal would get cold feet when it comes to killing Superman’s mom.

It tracks.
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 1/6/2022, 6:27 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Batman just beat Superman by that point, dont expect logic, lol.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 1/6/2022, 6:31 PM
@PartyBoy - wait you get cold feet killing Superman’s mom but not kidnapping her and putting yourself in a situation to be killed by Superman?

The scene just doesn’t make sense on many levels. Superman, who’s the fastest person known to man(flash isn’t known at this point), can’t go in there because they said they’d kill her if he tried so they made a plan for Batman to go in there and beat up every one one by one , while this guys fingers on the trigger.

He didn’t go check on Martha first or rescue her. He beat up people in hopes that these criminals, who’ve been killing people throughout the movie to frame Batman and Superman, get cold feet.

Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 1/6/2022, 6:36 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Logic+Snyder= does not compute
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 1/6/2022, 6:41 PM
@TheHumanSpider2 - lol I didn’t like the battle but I feel like most directors would’ve had Batman will at least one round so they can show why Batman belongs amongst all these god like figures
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 1/6/2022, 6:41 PM
@Feralwookiee - had to learn that the hard way
PartyBoy
PartyBoy - 1/6/2022, 6:48 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Superman wants to go to Martha, (“My mother needs me”), but he and Bats have to divide and conquer.

I can see thug a losing resolve when it comes to murdering Superman’s mom. I truly can.

You would be uneasy about it, too. Think it through. If Snyder Superman survives, you will be toast.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 1/6/2022, 6:57 PM
@PartyBoy - id be uneasy about kidnapping his mom but if they’re in it they know the consequences
PartyBoy
PartyBoy - 1/6/2022, 7:01 PM
@MyCoolYoung - People are imperfect and sometimes hesitate under pressure.

The psychology is sound.

It's a great scene in a great movie.
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 1/6/2022, 7:04 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Probably, but we know Zack Snyder is a Frank Miller fanboy (who is a Batman fanboy).

The movie should've had two fights (it would've also helped the pacing), have Superman winning the first, Batman winning the second.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 1/6/2022, 7:17 PM
@PartyBoy - we can agree to disagree. It’s like 40 people there and they’ll all hesitate? The guy that kidnapped Lois also hesitated? Nah. He didn’t even show fear in the scene he acted surprised to see Batman.

It was ripped offf from an Arkham game with the same logic of those games. Fear doesn’t just make people freeze up, a fearful person also can pull the trigger quicker than they would have had they not been scared.

We have a fight or flight system and sometimes that fight system activates and adrenaline pumps
Arthorious
Arthorious - 1/6/2022, 7:22 PM
@MyCoolYoung - you put more thought into this than the screen writers. Snyder is all style over substance. While the scene is cool it doesn’t make sense.
PartyBoy
PartyBoy - 1/6/2022, 7:28 PM
@MyCoolYoung - The other side of this though, is that if they fry Martha, they no longer have anything to negotiate with. Game over.

So if this guy is Joe Cool, as you suggest, he knows they lose all leverage if they actually kill Martha.

Again, it is very sound writing.

Chris Terrio is really smart and got the Oscar for his Argo script. I would trust his judgement over ours.

Someday people will see how brilliant BVS is.
Knightrider
Knightrider - 1/6/2022, 7:31 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Yeah, the warehouse scene is a nice little action set piece, but silly. The moment KGBeast heard noise he should have shot Martha.

Plus, Batman had just shot people outside, so why not just shoot all the people through the window rather than going in.
DannyDischarge
DannyDischarge - 1/6/2022, 7:33 PM
@PartyBoy - Ben Affleck is more of a pudgy dad than he is Batman, in my opinion.
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