Matt Damon has a message to comic book fans who are distraught over the surprise casting of his "Good Will Hunting" pal Ben Affleck as Batman. Relax, he's got this one covered.

"I think it will be great. It will be terrific. I know there are a lot of people grousing on the internet. I just think it's kind of funny," Damon told the Times of India. "You know, he's not playing King Lear. It's Batman! Certainly within his skill set."

Also read: Ben Affleck as Batman: Hey, Bat-Fans, Calm the *%!& Down!

Affleck's decision to follow the Bat signal and team up withHenry Cavill in a big screen blockbuster that will find Bruce Wayne's alter-ego sharing the screen with Superman has set off a wave of online protests. More than 80,000 have signed a petition on Change.orgasking for the role to be recast while others have taken to social media platforms like Twitter to voice their displeasure.

Also read: Ben Affleck's Batman Casting Bolsters Warner Bros. Relationship - Despite Jeff Robinov Exit

Although Damon expressed enthusiasm for Affleck's casting, he indicated that the part pales in comparison to his recent work.

"If anybody saw 'Argo' or 'The Town,' and all the work he's been doing lately, it's way more nuanced and interesting and way more difficult than Batman!" Damon said. "Batman just sits there with his cowl over his head and whispers in a kinda gruff voice at people."

Also read: Ben Affleck's Batman Casting Backlash: Tweets, Petitions, Even a Mass Suicide Event on Facebook

He's also ruling out a reunion that would find the 42-year old Damon playing a certain boy wonder.

"I am a little older than Ben," Damon said. "I never saw Robin as older than Batman."

I hate it when people treat Superheroes as sub-par roles just because their comic book characters. I'm sorry, but someone dealing with the trauma of witnessing their parents death and being helpless to prevent it, then spending the rest of their life fighting to make sure no kid experiences that same trauma is a little more "nuanced" and "interesting" than a bank robber from boston.

The Town is more than just about a bank robber from Boston, its a great movie and it was probably more challenging than Batman would be. He's wrong about Argo though, and also he's wrong about what Batman really is.

The article left out the bit where Damon says playing Bruce Wayne is the challenging part.

I agree, I totally dislike when actors don't take Superhero roles seriously. However, I am happy Damon insulted Bats for Brains.

In reality if you want to let Warner to regret getting Alfleck all anyone needs to do is boycott the movie which WILL nNeVeRr Happen. Bat fans and SuperFans are totally watching MoS2.

Plus, I think there are more serious things happening in the world for people to get up in arms for. Getting all worked up for a movie that will eventually be forgotten about is a waste of precious time. That's just me though [×]

Way to cut out the important part of the statement where Damon says that playing Bruce Wayne is going to be a new and interesting challenge for him.

But I guess you have your own agenda to peddle.

Erm,that's not batman at all.....sitting around in a cowl in a gruff voice....that's like bale batman (not a bad batman,either).

I mean,that statement seems very....ignorant of the character

@cameron83: Actually look for the statement.

He and the article maker purposefully left out the most important part of Damon's statement to incite rage.

@guardian_of_gravity: actually I copied the whole article, so if Matt Damon did say that I apologize. Here's the link so you can see for yourself http://movies.yahoo.com/news/matt-damon-defends-ben-affleck-batman-casting-152117019.html

@kreature: Try to double check what an article says next time and always assume that they have an agenda.

Paranoid you say? True, but it helps you avoid looking foolish.

Did he seriously say that??

@kreature: my god first new lobo redesign now this sh*t

@wolverine08: The important part of the interview was cut out because the article writer has an agenda.

"If anybody saw 'Argo' or 'The Town,' and all the work he's been doing lately, it's way more nuanced and interesting and way more difficult than Batman! Batman just sits there with his cowl over his head and whispers in a kinda gruff voice at people. Bruce Wayne is the more challenging part of the role, and Ben will be great at that."

Damon's statements mostly echo what director Zack Snyder said when it was announced that Affleck would play Batman in the "Man of Steel" sequel that Warner Bros. will release in 2015, though Snyder didn't use any of Damon's snark."

I found this at Huffington post, so I stand corrected. He should probably be more careful in the future, the absence of that one sentence made it look like he was bad-mouthing one of the most popular characters in existence.

Matt Damon should be Robin.

People killed themselves over this?

-413 points of faith in humanity.

OH MY GOD it's hilarious how even Matt Damon believes Ben Affleck has mediocre acting skills

Ah now the idiot pack has arrived.

ooh i see you're narrating your own arrival

@teamvamonos: Please continue to prop up your opinion as fact, it amuses me.

@mitran: Throwing away your life is stupid, throwing away your life because of the casting of a fictional character is triple stupid.

who cares what matt damon says? his only good movies are the bourne ones. and even in those he plays a board. his acting prowess is less than affleck's.

seems like something the news always does lol

@guardian_of_gravity: You don't need thorough analysis to determine that Damon's comment was an unintentional backhanded compliment to Affleck's limited acting range. "HE'S NOT PLAYING KING LEAR, YOU GUYS. BEN CAN TOTALLY DO IT OKAY." I'm glad I amuse you, though, considering I live off of validation from people from the internet and all.

@cameron83: The news gets quite a lot of hits from pretty much trolling.

@teamvamonos: And I should care why? Acting is more about practice and skill than talent and breeding. And he has plenty of time to develop the former two.

Also,I for one think Affleck is a very skilled actor.

However,I admit that it,while they DID leave out that crucial piece of information,it still almost seems just a bit (and I might be reading too much into this) insulting to Batman.

The one about this role not being King Lear

@cameron83: I'd hope not, never liked Shakespeare as literature it's great as plays or movies though, but reading it? No thanks.

@guardian_of_gravity: why waste time hiring Ben Affleck in hopes he will practice and develop acting skills rather than hiring an actor who's already been established as naturally skilled

i freaking HATE that. geeze

@teamvamonos: He's a pretty good actor from the later movies I've seen, but that's all opinion.

@w0nd: As you should.

Such as? Interested to hear on who you could see doing the role justice.

I'm ambivalent about the casting, though I do think Affleck is a great actor. just curious as to what your average bat-fan would think a winning choice?

@daycrawler: he would NEVER do it, but my ideal actor for Batman/Bruce Wayne is Joaquin Phoenix

Christian Bale's Batman is more nuanced and interesting than anything we saw from Matt Damon's Jason Bourne.

@m3th: I've made no bones about the fact I'll be watching this movie, of course I didn't start crying when Affleck got cast either because I'm a sane person who thinks you should actually see some evidence of something being terrible before complaining.

I think people are blowing this whole casting thing out of proportion. The true question lies in the writing ability behind this movie. We've seen great actors take up the cowl in the past, only to have their movies bomb due to terrible writing and sub-par plots. You don't need an A-tier actor to play Batman. You just need a good director and writer to pull it off. Imagine if the Nolan brothers directed/wrote Batman Forever as well as Batman & Robin. Do you guys think those movies would suck, even with Kilmer and Clooney playing the lead role?

@alak: I wish I could say I'm surprised people are still crying about this.

@alak: that's common sense though? this post is exclusively about the actor/acting. you wouldn't want a average actor delivering a line you worked hard to write, either

Joss Whedon I believe, but Matt Damon doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just defending his friend, which is okay.

That's the problem with the OP as well as everyone who's complaining. They're thinking way too narrow about film-making, because the role of the actor pales in comparison to that of the director/writer(s). Don't get me wrong, Christian Bale is a tremendous actor, but I truly believe his performance in the Nolan-trilogy was mostly a result of superb screenwriting and direction.

Has anyone here watched the director's cut version of Daredevil? It is vastly superior to the theatrical version because you're not watching plot elements that were forced in by the corporate marketing team. Ben Affleck was laughable in the original version because he had terrible lines and we were scarred by a romance that had zero chemistry. In the director's cut, the movie turns into a detective film with no romantic subplot and the cheesiness is heavily toned down. Add in some investigative scenes with Ben Affleck acting as a lawyer, and you'll be amazed at the improvement. Take that version of superhero-Affleck and put a fantastic screenwriter behind the scenes. We can't do anything about Zack Snyder, but I will still vouch for Affleck as a good candidate for Bruce Wayne/Batman. He's not my first choice, not by a long shot, but he's still a good one.

Hahahaha Matt Damon....

You suck.

I was shocked by the news that Ben Affleck was going play Batman solely bc he wasnt really mentioned a whole lot as in the running for it but i have no problem with him playing Batman and cant wait to see his interpretation of the character

And to think. We only have to suffer for 2 years people crying on the internet about this.

He was saying his acting was more nuanced and interesting than his previous acting. He wasn't saying that Batman in general is less interesting than those movies.

You mean that racist, slow, stupid, complete underuse of John Goodman that only got such high critical praise because it whored out to Hollywood? Yeah, I saw it...The question is, did Damon see The Dark Knight Rises, a modern tragedy on how we can either rise above our darkest origins or be consumed by them? About the true sacrifices that separate true heroes from mere vigilantes?

"Batman just sits there with his cowl over his head and whispers in a kinda gruff voice at people."

"If anybody saw 'Argo' or 'The Town,' and all the work he's been doing lately, it's way more nuanced and interesting and way more difficult than Batman!"

"You know, he's not playing King Lear. It's Batman! Certainly within his skill set."

"Bruce Wayne is the more challenging part of the role, and Ben will be great at that."

I like Damon but he should really think before what he's saying, he probably got the idea of Batman from the movies only. Batman is a far more complex character than both King Lear and Bruce Wayne, that's probably why no actor has ever pulled off the Batman part, Bruce Wayne, almost everyone has played the part well even Clooney. I saw The Town and Argo and Affleck's acting was good in these movies but not nearly good enough too play Batman. I know that he was defending his friend and if he insulted the fans it was okay but he insulted the character, seriously Damon should just stfu, I hope he doesn't appear in a Batman movie ever.

Why did everyone think that 'The Town' was a good movie? It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing...it was such an average action movie...

@justthatkid: He could've defended him without insulting Batman, and in a way he also insulted the character he's friend is playing, I don't think Bruce Wayne will get much screen time but Batman definitely will.