It can't be denied that Ben Affleck's casting as the DC Extended Universe version of Batman raised a lot of eyebrows back in 2013 but the Hollywood icon pretty much proved that he still has a lot left in the tank despite being deemed too old to play the character. Affleck ended up blowing everyone away with his dark and gritty performance as the caped crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and has gained a cult following through the years.
Zack Snyder has stated in the past that he always wanted to cast Ben for the role but in a new interview, the Justice League director revealed that he had a backup plan if things went south with Affleck. Speaking with MTV's Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Snyder said that when Ben expressed his hesitance to take on the Batman mantle, he was also talking to The Old Guard actor Matthias Schoenaerts about potentially becoming the Dark Knight.
Snyder recalls: "I was talking to him a lot about it. He never got in the suit, but I did do a bunch of mock-ups of him because Ben was on the fence. And I don't blame him. Everyone should be on the fence when you're asked, ‘Do you want to play Batman?'"
Schoenaerts would have been an interesting choice to play the iconic DC character, no doubt about it but honestly, it's already hard to imagine anyone else other than Affleck breathing life to the role in the DCEU. There's a reason why fans fell in love with his take on Batman despite the initial backlash he had to go through after his casting was announced several years back.
Of course, it's no secret to a lot of people that Affleck's time in the franchise may be running short, and his final outing as the Dark Knight may come to an end in Ezra Miller's solo The Flash project. If the film actually serves as his official DCEU farewell, I just hope that he exits the franchise on his own terms and gives us the best Batman performance we've ever seen.
The Flash is scheduled for release in 2022.
Also Read:Ben Affleck Faces Backlash Following ‘Creepy' Video He Sent to Influencer He Met on Dating App
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