Ben Affleck Says He’s Done With The DC Universe
Written by djfrosty on March 17, 2023
Source: Anadolu Agency / Getty
To many fanboys, Ben Affleck had the best iteration of The Dark Knight in Zack Snyder’s Batman V. Superman and The Justice League, but if you ask the Bawsten actor himself, he didn’t care much for the experience he had in the DC Universe and doesn’t plan on returning anytime soon.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar winner explained that though the DC films he was a part of have established a cult following years after their release, he felt that the Justice League “stories became somewhat repetitive to me and less interesting.” After that debacle that Joss Whedon put together on the fly, we can’t blame Ben for feeling that way. The Zack Snyder cut of the film was superior though not exactly mind-blowing.
Continuing to explain his beef with Whedon’s remixed version of The Justice League, Ben said “You could teach a seminar on all the reasons why this is how not to do it. Ranging from production to bad decisions to horrible personal tragedy, and just ending with the most monstrous taste in my mouth. The genius, and the silver lining, is that Zack Snyder eventually went to AT&T and was like, “Look, I can get you four hours of content.” And it’s principally just all the slow motion that he shot in black-and-white. And one day of shooting with me and him. He was like, “Do you want to come shoot in my backyard?” I was like, “I think there are unions, Zack. I think we have to make a deal.” But I went and did it. And now [Zack Snyder’s Justice League] is my highest-rated movie on IMDb.”
Keep in mind Zack only got the chance to finish the film he started because of years of fan support and demands that he right the wrong that Whedon gave us after taking over the Justice League when Snyder stepped down due to personal reasons. The Whedon experience was so taxing on Ben that he admits that it led to him drinking too much during production and questioning whether he was content with where his career and life was at the moment.
Luckily Ben is in a better place now, but that doesn’t mean he’s down to return to the DC Universe even if it was in a directing gig for which he’s already won an Oscar in 2013’s Argo.
“I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC. Absolutely not. I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that.”
Not even in a directing capacity?! Ben must have really had a bad time being involved in those DC productions. that being said the way that James Gunn is running that ship, we doubt he’d want Ben Affleck to be a part of anything. Just sayin.’
Will you be missing Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne/Batman in the DC Universe? Let us know in the comments section below.