I don't think many can dispute my opinion that Christian Bale made for the best Batman we have seen as of yet. Suffice to say then that it came as a surprise when it was announced today the Ben Affleck as been chosen to portray the caped crusader in the forthcoming Superman sequel alongside Henry Caville.Whilst Warner Brother's president Greg Silverman seems confidance in the choice of actor, stating that ' We knew we needed an extraordinary actor to take on one of DC comics most enduringly popular superheros and Ben Affleck certainly fits that bill, and then some' fans have vented their confusion and fury over the appointment via social media sites with tweets such as 'Casting Ben Affleck as Batman sounds like something the joker would do to create a distraction at the nerd bank' and my personal favourite: 'I've just seen Christian Bale going to Afflecks apartment with some Huey Lewis records and an axe' in reference to the murderous Patrick Bates portrayed by Bale in 2000's American psycho. Some fans have even gone as far to create an online petition in an aim to convice casting directors to look elsewhere for their lead, a move which may be somewhat premature considering Heath Ledger received the same welcoming when he was cast as the joker, only to later receive posthumous critical acclaim.
Bale (above), who beat out actor Jake Gyllenhaal to the role of the Dark Knight in 2004, has stated that he chose not to continue in the role as Batman for fear of being pigeon holed for the rest of his career despite the fact that many critics pointed out that Robert Downey Jr has played Iron Man five times now with no negative association to this fact.
Whilst Affleck has a number of high profile movie's under his belt, such as the 2012's Argo which receive nominations for 7 Academy Awards, 5 Golden Globes and 7 Critics Choice Awards, there has been much criticism for some of his earlier roles, particularly his earlier superhero portrayal of Daredevil. Only time will tell whether he was the right choice for the role and as long as he looks to Bale for inspiration as opposed to the disastrous performance given by George Clooney in Joel Schumacher's adaptation (below), we ought to at least give him a chance right?
