Ben Affleck on his disillusioned Batman and why Wonder Woman inspires him

Now that we’re only a few weeks away from BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, the actors have been opening up a little more regarding their characters. As Entertainment Weekly points out, Ben Affleck was content with not saying a word about playing Batman until audiences had already gone through their share of denial, hate, sadness, and finally, acceptance. Dare I say there’s now a genuine excitement to see how Affleck portrays the Dark Knight? Recently, the man spoke with EW regarding his character, as well as his interactions with the other two heroes of the film and possibly directing a solo Batman flick.

Ben Affleck on what he would say his contribution to the Batman legacy is:

Oh gosh, I wouldn’t. I would leave that for other people to say. What I wanted was to create a Batman that was sort of at the end of his rope physically and psychologically and emotionally, a guy who was beaten down by the world, a guy who was a little bit more of a slugger, who has more gray in his hair, and who was questioning whether the whole journey that he lived as Batman was in fact even worth it, given that he was not superhero, but now had to face a super-being, which none of the other Batmans had to confront in the movie world. It’s an interesting thing to combine, because in the Nolan Batmans, which are the defining Batmans — so magnificent — there are no other superheroes. It’s just this guy. He never has to reconcile who he is with this idea that there are all these other people who can do these supernatural things. Having to confront that and having to deal with that is my contribution to the character.

Regarding his beef with Superman:

He’s projecting in some ways his own sense of failure, his own sense of disillusionment, his own cynicism onto Superman, having at one point been certainly much more idealistic about what he was doing. He’s also always been kind of a dark guy. You can’t go out at night and avenge crime the way he does, obviously, without a darker view of the world, but you can see that this probably contributes in some degree to the greater cycle of violence. And that doesn’t put an end to crime. There’s a line about weeds just cropping up and criminals are like weeds, you just pull more of them and they grow back. He’s very disillusioned and very bitter.

On how Batman reacts to Wonder Woman:

It inspires in him the idea that well, if there’s one of these kinds of people out there, then maybe there are in fact more. If there are more, then maybe that’s hopeful and also terrifying to him, because then they could make humans even more powerless — or they could serve on our side. You’ve got to remember that Batman is the world’s greatest detective, and if he suspects that there may be more, and if he suspects in particular that Diana may be somebody special, he gets inspired.

Whether or not Affleck would direct a solo Batman film:

There’s definitely willingness and a will and a desire to make a Batman movie on the part of Warner Brothers. It’s in development, and right now I’m really focused on finishing LIVE BY NIGHT. That’s where my focus is, and I tend to be a one movie at a time guy. So, when I’m finished with this movie, I’ll then focus on my next movie and figure out what that will be.

As you can see, Affleck remains pretty coy about helming his own Batman flick. I imagine with a film as big as that, there’s A LOT of details that have to be worked out. My hope is that Warner Bros. gives Affleck carte blanche and lets him do his own thing. The man has brought his signature style to every film he’s worked on and those movies are better for it. Hell, he’s even responsible for a few Oscars! C’mon, Hollywood!

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE opens on Mach 25, 2016.