Ben Affleck says final goodbye to his Batman role with The Flash
by Jaskiran Kaur | Wed, 12 Jan 2022 17:31:22 GMT
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Ben Affleck has confirmed that he will not play Batman again after his final appearance as the caped hero in The Flash. The actor first portrayed the role after Bruce Wayne dropped from the series and began his Batman career with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Zack Snyder in 2016. 

The character portrayal by Ben Affleck received mixed reactions as Snyder altered the face of DCEU, making it more violent. And then Ben Affleck was only again seen as Batman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”, Suicide Squad, and Justice League. Ben Affleck did try venturing in for a Batman movie starring him and also directed by him. But the startup did not pick up, and ultimately Robert Pattinson bagged the role for the new Batman movie. He now stands to fill in the role of Bruce Wayne in The Batman by Matt Reeves

While it looked like Ben Affleck was done playing the caped hero, the actor will get one final try at the role. As multiverse plots are picking popularity, the actor will star as Batman along with another Batman actor, Michael Keaton, in The Flash. 

While people have wondered for a long time if the actor will get to act in The Flash, the star recently confirmed that he will definitely appear in the multiverse film. He recently had an interview with the Herald Sun where he revealed what it was like to play the hero, and now he proposes to end his iconic role. He shared that his time with Snyder on Justice League and The Flash will be apt to “put a really nice finish on my experience with that character.”

The Flash stands to be a highly guarded piece of cinema, and most of its story continues to be in the dark with no information on how the film will put Affleck's portrayal into use. And yet, many fans have already started speculating if Affleck's Batman will breathe his last in the film, and as he has so thoroughly confirmed that it will be his last portrayal of the character, the ending almost fits. 

Also as it is a multiverse storyline, fans could get to see Ben Affleck's Batman meet Keaton's Batman, and that will truly be something. Affleck shared, “I have never said this – this is hot off the presses – but maybe my favorite scenes in terms of Batman and the interpretation of Batman that I have done were in the Flash movie.” He added, “I hope they maintain the integrity of what we did because I thought it was great and really interesting – different, but not in a way that is incongruent with the character."

Though many fans still want Snyder's version of the Batman universe to continue on and also that Ben Affleck never takes his cape down, the DC universe has shifted onto a different perception of the character with a younger actor. As Robert Pattinson will portray the younger story of Bruce Wayne, and there still is Keaton to tackle the older version, Batman has two pretty good actors to carry on the torch for his story. Still, it would be great to see Ben Affleck receive a great farewell in The Flash as he bids adieu to his role in the DCEU. 

The actor also shared in his interview with the Playlist that portraying Batman in The Flas was "really fun and really, really satisfying." He also shared, “Who knows? Maybe they will decide that it doesn’t work,” and continued, “But when I went and did it, it was really fun and really, really satisfying and encouraging, and I thought, ‘Wow — I think I have finally figured it out.’”

It was not just the end of Snyder as the Batman director that has led to the end of Ben Affleck's era as the Caped Crusader in the Batman films. The star actually shared that his experience when starring in Justice League was not all that great. Apparently, the actor had to sort through a lot of personal issues and also battle alcoholism while he portrayed the character. Additionally, there was also the matter of Zack Snyder being replaced by Joss Whedon, and that led to a lot of tension for the actor behind the film's scenes. 

The actor had previously told Los Angeles Times that ‘Justice League’ "was a bad experience because of a confluence of things: my own life, my divorce, being away too much, the competing agendas, and then Zack’s personal tragedy and the reshooting.” The actor referred to the death of director Zack Snyder's daughter by suicide back in 2017.

He continued on, “It just was the worst experience. It was awful. It was everything that I didn’t like about this. That became the moment where I said, ‘I’m not doing this anymore.'”

Not only did this bad experience push him to step down from the Justice League mantle and put an end to it but also interfered with his plans of wanting to direct and star in a standalone The Batman movie. Explaining his reasons, the star shared, “I looked at it and thought, ‘I’m not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it.'" He added to the LA Times, “You’re supposed to always want these things, and I probably would have loved doing it at 32 or something. But it was the point where I started to realize it’s not worth it.”

Ben Affleck played The Batman in Justice League and Batman V Superman; Credits: Variety

His latest interview about shooting as Batman for one final time is definitely an improvement from his previous experience, and it is great to see that The Flash could finally change his mind about the character.

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