It’s become so easy to stir the pot under movie fans feet. All you have to do is announce the casting of a new actor who will be playing a much beloved character.
Inevitably, you’re going to get a wave of opinions, arguments, wallowing, enthusiasm, protests and support coming from all directions. Heck, it’s better than folks just shrugging their shoulders and saying, “whatever”.
This was the case when Warner Brothers made the official announcement that Ben Affleck has signed to play the newest incarnation of the Caped Crusader in the already highly anticipated Man of Steel sequel which will co-star Batman.
There’s still no word on what they’re going to call it – Batman vs Superman, Superman vs Batman, maybe Man of Steel 2 with the subtitle Bats Meets Supes or something. They don’t even need to give it a name. Just throw the logo up on the screen and fans will figure it out.
From what I’ve heard Affleck’s casting has had a very mixed reaction. Despite him directing and starring in the recent Best Picture winner Argo last year, a lot of Affleck’s past tabloid fodder with Jennifer Lopez still overshadows people’s opinion about him.
His ‘bro-mance’ with Matt Damon naturally sparked comments of him being cast as Robin – I think they were just trying to be funny and going for an easy joke.
Then we have Affleck’s previous horrible superhero film Daredevil, that only ended somehow sparking an even more horrible spin-off film with Elektra. Along with memories of some equally horrible films he starred in during the heights of his ‘Beniffer’ fame with Jennifer Lopez. Everyone was sick of reading about those two! There’s been enough to raise eyebrows at him being the Dark Knight.
When I heard of Affleck’s casting as Batman I just thought it seemed….predictable. I wasn’t really that surprised by it.
I did think they might have gone with someone younger in order to keep him around for awhile to play the role in the expected sequels. Unless Warners and Zack Snyder aren’t thinking that far ahead. Some of the Marvel heroes have contracts for such multiple films they’re locked up to play their characters for a decade!
I don’t have much of a problem with Affleck as other fans seem to. He’s been the ‘over-exposed, young hot Hollywood actor’ who was a mainstay in the tabloids at a point, but that was a long time ago.
Since then along with this work on Argo, he’s done some smaller, more personal films. Now that Affleck has become a respected director the idea could be that he can be an easy goto to helm a planned Bat-flick at some point.
It’s still so early, so it’s impossible to determine how Affleck will do as Batman. I highly doubt any attempts by fans writing petitions, tweeting and boycotting this decision will change anything. They’ve made their voices heard, but this Bat-train has left the platform.
So I’m going to just hope for the best and try to forget all about Pearl Harbor, Paycheck, Forces of Nature, Gigli and all the crap that came before in Affleck’s career. I’ll do my best to stay optimistic. I still never got to see Man of Steel and see how Cavill is as Superman!
There’s still two long years before we ever see this movie. So there will be plenty of news and announcements until then that will keep fans gossiping and theorizing as to how this Batman/Superman movie will turn out. They’ll drop us a little crumb every now and then to keep the anticipation wheel turning with fans until 2015.
The movie no doubt will open huge – could it possibly be the biggest movie opening ever? It should be one of the biggest summers on record with a lot of fan targeted movies vying for attention – Avengers 2, Star Wars VII, the Hunger Games finale, Jurassic Park 4, World of Warcraft, a new Terminator movie.
There’s a lot of stuff for fans to wait anxiously for. I just hope some of this stuff delivers and isn’t like the abysmal summer we’ve just endured.
A lot of this ‘Affleck flak’ reminds me of the Michael Keaton casting back for the 1989 Tim Burton film Batman.
For those old enough to remember there was tons of publicity and debate about having Keaton wear the cowl. Some fans were questioning Burton’s sanity over the idea. I recall endless discussions in the cafeteria, in comic shops, walking to and from school with friends about the choice of Keaton.
Instead of focusing on Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice playing Batman we latched onto Keaton’s role in Clean and Sober and convinced ourselves he doesn’t always have to be funny in a movie and he just might be able to pull off playing Batman! Remember how some people were bummed that Adam West wasn’t going to play Batman again? That was a hoot!
Today it’s the same type of fan passion, only now the internet has allowed fans to gather from across the globe to voice their heated opinions with each other. This will be one long two-year discussion until we finally get to see this movie.
Okay. I'll give Affleck a chance and not try to look at this as stunt casting.
But if they hire Halle Berry for the love interest, I want BLOOD!
Ooooh maybe a return of her Catwoman! Gives me goosebumps! lol
Halle Berry has been trying to find someone to invent a time machine for her so she can go back and stop herself from signing the contract for that film. I can't see her reprising the role for any amount of money. :>)
Have you seen the Director's Cut of "Daredevil"? I hear it's better than the theatrical cut.
I'm neutral about Affleck being Batman, since I'm not too familiar with him other than often hearing about him.
I'm kinda like you about Affleck. I did recently re-watch him in as Jack Ryan in The Sum of All Fears (I'm dreading Chris Pine in the part, though). He wasn't all that bad, but, that was already several years ago. He MIGHT be able to pull it off, assuming their gonna keep the darker image that Bats has had recently. But, at least he's got nerd cred. The only other movies I've seen him in are the Kevin Smith stuff. I haven't seen Argo yet..even though, it's right up my alley in tastes (and I actually worked on it in various scenes).
ya just made me reminisce about that Wally Wingert song. I used to listen to Dr. Demento for billions of years and used to record a bunch of it off the radio and that was one of 'em, of course. I probably still have the tape laying around here somewhere.
Same here! I used to listen to Dr. Demento every week and try to record the songs. The Adam West song was one of my favorites he played.
A friend of mine told me of a rumor, and I stress rumor, that one of the stipulations of Affleck's contract is that he'll direct, and possibly star, in a future Batman film after Batman Vs Superman.
Personally I'm not to crazy over the Batman Vs Superman film. The whole idea has been kicking around for the last fifteen odd years, and if it was made at the time it was announced then I would have been excited, hell anything to wipe away the bad memory of the dreaded Bat film from 97.
However ever since 97 we've had a reboot that led to a sensational trilogy of films that won't be forgotten anytime soon. Pretty much every Batman film here on in will be compared to Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy.
As for Affleck, I'm in the neutral zone, and I can't say anything more till I've seen the film. Its just a major shame that Affleck was only chosen to star in the film, and not direct it. Say what you want about him as an actor, but as a filmmaker he has proven to be surprisingly very competent, certainly better then Hack Snyder. Sorry but I can't shake off my disappointment over Man of Steel, which was one of the most disappointing films I've seen all year.
Batman and Superman in the same film simply doesn't work. A world with Superman makes Batman unnecessary. Batman is reality-based, Superman is pure fantasy. The Mystery Machine kids meeting the Addams Family had more going for it than a Batman-Superman matchup.
I suspect that Batman is going to go down the same road as it did in the 90s- it's going to become a silly, unwatchable cartoon. Again.
Jamele, Adam West did not come up with the boy sidekick in pixie shoes and shaved legs. The Green Hornet did not have such an odd partner.
Nor did West come up with the other odd tales of the 1930's or 1940's, nor did the Green Hornet have such odd adventures: flowers with human faces, a trip to Atlantis, a Martian manhunter-other than J'onn J'onzz, etc.
Review the comic books from 1944-to-1964. As the poster Count Karnstein pointed out, those comic books:
http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum….ic/topic/14587
“had giant pennies and stuffed dinosaurs, was wearing caveman, zebra, and rainbow costumes, teamed up with Bat-Mite, split in two, melded with Superman, fought a living #2 pencil, drowned in giant gravy boats and menaced by giant sized water pistols, tennis rackets, [had a boy sidekick with shaved legs and pixie shoes] and all sorts of insane absurdities long before the Batman movie or tv show were released….Dozier was bringing the characters to the screen in the manner in which they had been portrayed in the comics. Was there ever a silly, absurd, ridiculous Green Hornet comic book? If so, it’s escaped my attention for the better part of 40 years. Did we ever see a Caveman Green Hornet or a Green Hornet in a rainbox/zebra/dayglo red suit? Did we ever see Green Hornet being drowned in a giant gravy boat or being chased by aliens and dinosaurs? Was there ever an Ace the Green Hornet Dog? How about a Hornet-Mite?
No? I didn’t think so. There’s your answer. It’s literally that simple. Dozier was taking characters and putting them on the screen. Green Hornet was always played straight and serious in the comics/strips/radio, so he was done that way for tv. Batman was as absurd, silly, goofy, and ridiculous as anything else that has ever appeared in comics, and so that’s how he appeared on-screen”.
http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/48915/New-Old-BATMAN-comic?page=1#.Uh_TUm0o5Ow
Except that the last two times Batman has been retconned for the big screen, in 1989 and 2006(?) he was shown as a brooding, troubled guy damaged by his past. In the 90s the Batman character returned to the screen became a stupid cartoon with "guest villains" like Uma Thurmond, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger- basically, people who were popular in Hollywood at the time of filming. This explains why the 1989 film is a timeless classic, the 90s sequels are badly aged cringe-fests.
"Batman Begins" wasn't anywhere near as dark as the '89 version, but at least it was serious. It's sequel ramped up the dark meter. The third film featured "Bat Girl," and now it looks like we are going to see something akin to "The Avengers"- a headache-inducing muddle of a film with shiny CGI effects and a crowd of superheroes and supervillians in flashy costumes duking it out. Boring, and another betrayal of the origin films.
"This explains why the 1989 film is a timeless classic, the 90s sequels are badly aged cringe-fests".
The Prince music, the scene where a man downs a flying vehicle with one hit from a rather phallic weapon, the villain saying he has a catch phrase he says to all of his victims he does not say until about halfway through the film, Michael Keaton in the title role (Bob Kane named Val Kilmer as his favorite in the role), etc. left me rather disappointed in 1989.
I thought Catwoman appeared in the recent film, but correct me if I have it wrong.
Why do you complain about flashy outfits when Bob Kane designed a boy sidekick with pixie shoes and shaved legs with golden cape?
I haven't seen Man of Steel either, but I hear the reception was VERY polarizing to the point audiences can't seem to form a concensus.
I believe there must be more to Affleck contract as well. Affleck's reputation is based on directing, rather than being a box office star or actor, so his involvement in the sequel must be based on some longer term goal for the studio. That said, Affleck has matured and he should be given a chance to prove himself.
Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Matthew Goode, Richard Armitage, Max Martini, Armie Hammer, Jensen Ackles and Joe Manganiello were considered to play Batman before Ben Affleck was cast.
All those guys were passed on so they could cast Affleck? I really don't give a hoot because I have no interest in Batman after the Christopher Nolan trilogy ended.As far as I am concerned, theere is only one Batman: Christian Bale.
I had no interest in seeing Cavil in Man of Steel and even less interest in this sequel.