Rampant government spying and unsupervised drone strikes cannot mobilize the Internet community like the announcement of the next actor playing Batman. Rumors were that the Warner Bros. Studios offered Christian Bale an amount of money so large that even the Joker would get serious, but Bale refused to reprise his role. Last week, it was announced that Ben Affleck would appear as Batman in the upcoming sequel to “Man of Steel.” The movie centers around a conflict between Superman, played again by Henry Cavill, and Batman.
Thousands of vocal Internet users have voiced their attitudes towards the casting choice of Ben Affleck: their emotions range from mild distaste to murderous rampage. As of yesterday night, there are 87,451 signatures on a petition on Change.org protesting Affleck as Batman. One user under the name Rodrigo Couto commented, “Because Ben Affleck isn’t even good as Ben Affleck.” Here are some worthy petitions with fewer signatures: “IKEA, Taco Bell, and Burger King: Keep horses out of our food!,” “Free Nigerian Activists and Prisoners of Conscience,” “Disney: Get toxic chemicals out of Princess and Spiderman lunch boxes” and “Walmart: End the Corruption and the Cover-Up.”
There is also news that Ben Affleck will be co-writing the “Man of Steel” sequel alongside the original’s writer David S. Goyer. Affleck has only written a handful of films, but they have all been amazing, like “Gone Baby Gone,” “Good Will Hunting” and “The Town.”
Ben Affleck has been one of my man-crushes since I first laid eyes on him in “Pearl Harbor” with Josh Hartnett (who unfortunately fell off the planet). The historically accurate film, directed by Michael Bay, was not universally loved, but Affleck has proven time and time again (looking at you, “Daredevil”), that he can give a solid performance in a horrible movie.
Adam West, arguably the most iconic on-screen Batman, and Val Kilmer, another Batman actor, have come out on Twitter wishing Affleck good luck and asking people to give him a chance. Joss Whedon, director of “The Avengers” and beloved by all nerds, tweeted that Affleck has the chops to be a great Batman and just needs good material. With Affleck on board to co-write the movie and to star as an interesting counterpart to Superman, any views, articles or Maddie Smiths that doubt him are awful and wrong. They will no doubt be eating their words – and this page of the newspaper – later. Ben Affleck can do no wrong; Batman is in good hands. Plus, there is a possibility that Batman will not sound like he has a throat problem.
Fun fact: Bryan Cranston is reported to have signed on to play Lex Luthor in a multi-picture deal. Another fun fact: since the initial announcement, Ben Affleck has signed a multi-picture deal to play Batman, so it would not be surprising to see him in the next few stand-alone Batman movies and in the Justice League movie.
