Ben Affleck is Batman

[The Dark Knight]

I hope Batman has a good chunk of screen time, and I'm sure he will. That's surely one of the reasons why he's in the film. He attracts attention. Equal run time or not, Batman will overshadow Superman. It's happening already.

[Azrael]

Say what you will about Bale, the man's focused and dedicated to each role he plays (at least when a project is worth it).

Affleck... One gets the impression that he sees this stuff as "beneath him". His deal surely involves a lot of money, but he's probably doing them a favour. He's a successful director, his focus is on his own projects. There's still the possibility of a phone-in performance not for lack of acting skill, but for lack of enthusiasm.

A writer in forbes shares this view - LINK

With three critically-acclaimed directorial efforts under his belt, the last one being the Oscar-winning Argo, along with a somewhat revived acting career highlighted by strong turns in Hollywoodland, State of Play, and To the Wonder, Warner Bros. needs Ben Affleck as Batman quite a bit more than Ben Affleck needs to be Batman at this point in his career.

On the other hand, a very optimistic view (by Mark Hughes at Forbes) - LINK

Ben Affleck is probably going to direct some Batman movies, and that is the greatest thing to happen to Batman movies since Christopher Nolan was hired to direct some Batman movies. (...) I think Ben Affleck is already one of the best directors working in cinema today, and I cannot imagine any scenario in which Warner Bros. made a deal with him that didn't include a gold-plated director's chair on the set of a Batman solo movie.

[The Joker]

Can't say I'm a huge follower of Affleck's interviews, but I'm not getting any sort of vibe that the material is 'beneath him'. If I am not mistaken, the guy is a admitted comic book fan, which may be a first for an actor playing Batman in a WB produced film, and I'm sure Affleck is more than fully aware that literally each millisecond of his performance is going to be dissected by the fanboys. For a guy who can, especially at this stage, pick and choose the projects he would want to pursue, I find it interesting he chose to do this. Oh, I'm sure there was a an abundance of benjamins thrown his way, but at the same time, accepting the role brings in an entirely specific challenge to prove people wrong. Just as Keaton did in '89.

Guess we'll eventually see how it pans out....

[Travesty]

I'm actually pretty excited for Affleck. I can totally see him doing a great job.

[riddler]

one thing about affleck is that he is a huge comic book fan and so combined with his talents behind the camera, I think he can bring some solid ideas to the project.

I don't think he'll act pretentious or as if it is beneath him; remember when he took the daredevil role, his career was on fire.

He's already likely to improve on the voice; he masked his for daredevil enough so that it was different from his regular voice but not annoying and hard to understand like bales,

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

I'm looking forward to hearing what Ben Affleck's personal favorite Batman stories are and which movie did he enjoy most. As a fan he's no doubt seen them and read them all. I think Christian Bale's favorite story was "Dark Victory". Perhaps it'll provide a hint as to how he may approach it. I'd love if he said Michael Keaton was genius! Then it would be nice to bring a bit of that back.

[johnnygobbs]

http://www.contactmusic.com/article/michael-keaton-ben-affleck-casting-approves-batman_3841853

We can all rest easy now. 

[Paul (ral)]

[The Dark Knight]

What a class act. Gave the reporter plenty of time and respect. I'm with him in supporting Affleck too. It's 1989 all over again.

[Paul (ral)]

It just occurred to me this morning...

While making Daredevil Ben Affleck was trained by Michael Keaton's Batman stunt double Dave Lea?