If there is anything to be said about Ben Affleck, it’s that he has been consistently honest about his triumphs and failures during his long career. The Oscar-winner has had his fair share of wins, but he has also stumbled on occasion and his time with the DC Universe may fall into the latter category for some. Even though his portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman has been considered a fan favorite, the films and subsequent dramas that followed some of their releases have overshadowed some of the actor’s work in the films. Now, with some time away from the DCEU, Affleck is revealing that his time playing a superhero is officially over.
During a new cover story with GQ Magazine, Affleck looked back on his time with the DCEU and dug into what went wrong during his time as Batman. After previously stating in 2022 that playing The Dark Knight was “the worst experience,” the actor elaborated further as to why he had an “awful” time during his tenure as Batman.

“There are a number of reasons why that was a really excruciating experience and they don’t all have to do with the simple dynamic of, say, being in a superhero movie or whatever. I am not interested in going down that particular genre again, not because of that bad experience, but just: I’ve lost interest in what was of interest about it to me. But I certainly wouldn’t want to replicate an experience like that. A lot of it was misalignment of agendas, understandings, expectations. And also by the way, I wasn’t bringing anything particularly wonderful to that equation at the time, either. I had my own failings, significant failings, in that process and at that time.”

Ben Affleck’s Time as Batman Was Tumultuous

Warner Bros.

Ben Affleck began his run as Batman in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and, despite being financially successful ($873.6 million globally), some believed it still performed below expectations, and it was met with negative reviews from critics, registering a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. While Affleck feels like he may not have brought his best to the role during that time for personal reasons, fans responded favorably to his take on Batman and the film’s negative reviews had very little to do with him. That being said, the actor has been honest about his struggles during that time, particularly with alcohol, and while he has a handle on it today, you can tell that he believes some of his personal issues hampered his work.

“I mean, my failings as an actor, you can watch the various movies and judge. But more of my failings of, in terms of why I had a bad experience, part of it is that what I was bringing to work every day was a lot of unhappiness. So I wasn’t bringing a lot of positive energy to the equation. I didn’t cause problems, but I came in and I did my job and I went home. But you’ve got to do a little bit better than that.”

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Ben Affleck reflects on his controversial tenure as Batman in the DCEU.

Affleck would go on to reprise the role again in Justice League and The Flash, both of which had problems that were out of the actor’s control. Justice League had a director’s shift after Snyder had to leave the production due to personal reasons and was replaced with Joss Whedon. What happened with Justice League is now the stuff of movie legend, as Whedon did a complete overhaul of Snyder’s work and was allegedly a bully on set to various cast members, which was later revealed to be the case for him in other productions as well. Despite the failure of Justice League, some of it was rectified with the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which was much better received by fans and critics.
The Flash only featured a minor appearance by Affleck as the character, but that film was dealt its own problems due to its star, Ezra Miller, and other delays. There were director changes and COVID-19 delays but Miller’s legal issues and other controversies overshadowed the film, even though many of their issues seemed to be settled by the time the film was released. Also at play was the imminent restructuring of the DCEU following James Gunn and Peter Safran being named co-CEOs. Some believed fans felt the film wasn’t as important since the DCEU was going to be rebooted soon after and that, in turn, led to its muted box office. The film ultimately received mixed reviews from critics and went on to gross a mere $271 million worldwide on a reported budget that was said to be as high as $220 million.
Source: GQ Magazine

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Release Date

March 24, 2016

Runtime

152 minutes