After starring as Batman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” last year, Ben Affleck promises his take on the caped crusader in the upcoming “Justice League” will be more “traditional.”
“‘BvS’ departed a little bit from the traditional Batman,” Affleck said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “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.”
Affleck added that the new attitude reflects the more classical incarnations of the superhero.
“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. Not that it’s average,” he added.
Affleck further explained that the upcoming movie will be very different from “Batman v Superman:” “I think it’s a really cool story. Actually, it’s sort of a story about multilateralism. It’s not a bad theme to have!”
“Justice League” will mark the second time Affleck stars as the Batman. He is also set to star as the character in Matt Reeves’ standalone film, “The Batman” — although his brother, Casey Affleck, said on Tuesday that he doesn’t think his older brother will play the part.
“I thought he was an okay Batman,” Affleck joked. “No, he was great. He was great. He’s a hero, so he had something to channel and work with there. But he’s not gonna do that movie, I don’t think.”
That movie would be “The Batman,” a film Affleck was originally set to write and direct before dropping out, he said, to focus on his performance. Affleck took great pains to make it clear that he’s 100 percent on board with his replacement behind the camera, Matt Reeves, but because the news notably coincided with Affleck’s highly publicized personal struggles, rumors persisted that Affleck was looking for a way out.