The ‘Justice League’ Batman Will Be Very Different Than The ‘Batman V Superman’ Batman
Ben Affleck’s future as Batman appears uncertain withthe rumor millsuggesting he wants out. Just yesterday hisown brother saidhe doesn’t think he’ll star inThe Batman. Affleck, however,recently dismissedthese rumors at Comic-Con. TheArgodirector is still Batman until he (or Warner Bros.) says otherwise. This Fall, he’ll be back as the character inJustice League, which he says features a less vengeful and more heroic Batman.
Below, Ben Affleck talks about the differences between the character inBatman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeandJustice League.
Batman wasn’t exactly a happy camper inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He was more of a brute whose sole motivation was to destroy Superman after he saved the world. Batman’s intentions were misguided, but by the end, he was a new and improved hero. Affleck tellsEntertainment Weeklythe character is more invested in saving lives inJustice Leaguethan he was inBatman v Superman:
BvSdeparted a little bit from the traditional Batman. He started out with all this rage directed at Superman, because of his coworkers who had died in the fight Superman had with Zod. He was holding on to a lot of anger, in a little bit of an irrational way. Whereas this is a much more traditional Batman. He’s heroic. He does things in his own way, but he wants to save people, help people.
Batman’s conflict this time around is keeping the band together, says Affleck:
He’s put in this position of having to reach out, find other people, convincing them to do something. Part of the drama of the movie is the question of whether or not the team is going to come together. It’s very different from the tenor of the last movie.
When the team presumably does come together, we’ll see a more traditional Batman:
This is more in keeping with the canon of how Batman’s usually been portrayed, and how he’s portrayed vis a vis the Justice League in the comics. This is more the Batman you would find if you opened up your average Batman comic book.
The Batman Affleck played inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicewas more akin toFrank Miller’s take on the character, which has always been a huge inspiration for directorZack Snyder. It was a bleak but strangely refreshing depiction of the Caped Crusader. During his brawl with Superman, he was a superhero bridging on villainy. Wayne sometimes talked more like he was in a revenge film than the average time-to-save-the-day comic book movie. When he was saving lives, it wasn’t pretty either. The Bat looked like he stepped out of a horror movie during his first appearance.
What if an aging and battle-scarred superhero started to get the wrong ideas and lost their way? That’s what Affleck’s Batman inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicewas all about. He was back to his old heroic ways at the end, but I’m going to miss the angry Bruce Wayne Affleck gave us with his first turn at bat with the character.
We have enough near-perfect superheroes already. They can’t all always be good and righteous. That take probably isn’t for everybody’s taste, especially younger fans of these movies, but I know I wouldn’t mind more superheroes as deeply flawed as Affleck’s Bruce Wayne. He’s a superhero who doesn’t just make mistakes, but makesa lotof them – at least inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Considering Affleck callsJustice Leaguea story about “multilateralism,” we’re probably not going to see much more of Bruce Wayne’s dark side in the film.
