When it was announced that Ben Affleck was playing Batman the overriding concern was that Affleck, based on his portrayal of Matt Murdock/Daredevil, was not capable of playing Batman. I don’t share this worry. However Affleck’s age and the few snippets we’ve heard about ‘this’ vision of Batman do concern me. I have read that the Batman of Batman Vs Superman will be “semi-retired” and “world weary”. Below I give three reasons why I find this interpretation of the character to be short sighted on WB/DCs part.
1. We just had this
In the last Batman film a couple of years ago we had a Bruce Wayne who had given up the cowl for 8 years, whose body was broken after only 18 months of crime fighting as Batman. I have seen Batman attaching Braces to his legs to enable him to walk. I have seen batman retire, happily from Gotham to spend his twilight years (ahem late 30s) globe trotting with his hot girlfriend. I am not sure I want to see another semi-retired, aging vision of the character. I think giving audiences something which at face value appears very similar to the last Batman film causes two problems. It either implies continuity with the Dark Knight Trilogy, which I think is a mistake for the character as that vision was very specific and not in keeping with a shared Dc universe. It is also giving audiences a redress of what weve had before, which was Superman Returns mistake.
2. Its not the character
I don’t know if its just me but isn’t a semi retired Batman an oxymoron. In The Dark Knight/Rises Batman, after 18 months, is eager to hand over the role first, to Harvey Dent and then to John Robin Blake in order to pursue romance and happiness. My view of Batman is that his grief, determination and drive to ensure crime is punished and the innocent are protected is what catapults Bruce Wayne, an ‘ordinary’ human being, into someone who can hold his own amongst the superpowered. That Batman’s relentlessness IS both the defining point of his character and ultimately his superpower. To me Bruce Wayne is a modern Captain Ahab with an indelible desire for justice in place of a desire for revenge.
To continue this analogy, imagine a Moby Dick Trilogy patterned after The Dark Knight Trilogy, part one would show Ahab’s first confrontation with the whale, so far so good. Part two would have Ahab in pursuit of the whale but keen to hand over his pursuit to another sea captain so he can be with his childhood sweetheart. Part three would be a retired Ahab, drawn out of retirement by a femme fatale and mortally wounded, then having defeated a whale (not Moby Dick) retiring with said femme fatale knowing that the great whale that wounded him was still out at sea. However good these films were (the middle one at least!) I can’t imagine anyone suggesting it was an accurate portrayal of one of fiction’s great characters. Finding new ways to explore a character is one thing, fundamentally mis understanding their raison daitre is something else.
Simply put, “semi retired Batman” is as consistent with the character as saying benevolent Fagin, selfish Cinderella or kind Jophrey Beratheon.
I don’t want a Bruce Wayne, dragged out of retirement occasionally when there is a city threatening problem, I want a Bruce Wayne who will not rest until crime and criminality however big or small has been stopped. I think Goyer/Nolan forget Batman was created by a back street mugging gone wrong not a terror plot involving a nuclear explosion.
3. Is semi retirement really how you start a franchise?
Well the simple answer is if you are rebooting Cocoon maybe! We are making an assumption that Batman will have solo films following his introduction in Batman Vs Superman/Justice League/Man Of Steel 2. Is “semi-retired” really the best first position for the character? Imagine if Lucasfilm had recast Indiana Jones 10/15 years after last Crusade, announced that Tommy Lee Jones was the new Indy and then made Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as the first instalment??? Imagine if JJs new star trek had not begun with the births of Spock and Kirk but instead with their return from the 5 year mission and them taking desk jobs at Starfleet HQ? Admittedly, I am not ready for a new take on Batman’s origin, although a film version of the excellent Zero year may make me reconsider! But I do want to see a Batman at the height of his powers doing battle with his rogues gallery in a film series that looks something like a combination of the Arkham Games, the 90s Animated Series and the current Batman comic.
Hopefully the conclusion of Batman Vs Superman/Justice League/Man Of Steel 2 is one where Batman is fully back out of retirement, that Affleck can give us ten years of the Batman I describe above, because between Adam West, Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan I do find it an oddity that cinema goers have never been treated to the character I know and enjoy (Burton/Keaton 1989 being the closest).