Ben Affleck: 'I Knew I Was Done as Batman When I Realized, Oh S***, We Have a Problem'

Ben Affleck, star of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, has candidly discussed his challenging experience portraying the Caped Crusader for DC in a recent interview with GQ. After nearly a decade of donning the iconic Batman suit, Affleck described his tenure as a central figure in the Snyder-verse as “a really excruciating experience.” He attributed his dissatisfaction to a complex relationship with DC, which ultimately led to his waning interest in the superhero genre.

“There are a number of reasons why that was a really excruciating experience,” Affleck revealed. “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.”

Affleck has previously touched on these issues, but this interview sheds more light on the root causes of his negative experience. He pinpointed a “misalignment of agendas, understandings, and expectations” as a major factor, while also acknowledging his own contributions to the situation. Reflecting on his time with DC, he admitted, “I wasn’t bringing anything particularly wonderful to that equation at the time, either.”

Elaborating on his personal shortcomings, Affleck said, “I mean, my failings as an actor, you can watch the various movies and judge. But more of my failings, 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.”

Affleck's journey with DC began when he joined Zack Snyder’s Batman v. Superman alongside Henry Cavill. This led to several years of cameo appearances and the eventual cancellation of his solo Batman project. He starred in team-up films like the original 2017 Justice League and its 2021 Snyder Cut, as well as The Flash, and made a brief appearance in Suicide Squad in 2016.

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Regarding his canceled Batman film, details remain scarce, but rumors suggest it would have delved into the lore of Arkham Asylum and possibly included Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke.

Affleck credits longtime collaborator Matt Damon for helping him move on from the role, but he also revealed in the GQ interview that his son played a significant role in his decision to step away. “But what happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience. Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch (Batman v. Superman). And so when I saw that I was like, 'Oh shit, we have a problem.' Then I think that’s when you had a filmmaker that wanted to continue down that road and a studio that wanted to recapture all the younger audience at cross purposes. Then you have two entities, two people really wanting to do something different and that is a really bad recipe.”

DC is now navigating a new direction, separating its grittier and more lighthearted narratives into distinct paths. The darker tone will continue with The Batman 2 slated for 2027, while the lighter side will be explored in James Gunn’s DCU, starting with Superman in July. As for Affleck, he has confirmed he will not return to DC to direct a film in Gunn’s new universe.