Quick...who is the first person to come to mind when you think about Batman? Certainly not Ben Affleck! I was flipping through Facebook last night and saw (through Superherostuff.com of all places) that the new Batman would be Ben Affleck. I immediately raced over to ComicVine (nice plug eh?) to confirm the news. I sat in utter silence for about 30 seconds and a million thoughts raced through my mind. The first was definitely "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" That was followed by "WHY GOD? WHY?" After much anger and many frustration induced reactions, I tried to think rationally. "I don't hate Ben Affleck. He could be ok." "Argo was good. He was really good in that." "The Town was good too. Maybe this would be ok?" Yet still, as I tried to convince myself that all would be well and that Warner Bros./DC Comics didn't potentially screw up another of their superhero movies, I just couldn't convince myself. Calls and texts were made to family and friends, conversations were had and all of us agreed...this was truly a bad choice. Then it dawned on me. DC and Warner Brothers have done this before. They've incited internet riots over their casting choices with one standing out in my mind...Heath Ledger. Nobody could get their head around why the studio would cast him as the Joker. The most notable movies he had done up to that point were 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale and Brokeback Mountain. A couple of goofy movies, a Mel Gibson flick, and a film so controversial people were proclaiming from the rooftops that they would never see The Dark Knight and that the Batman franchise was destroyed. Oh how everyone was wrong. Well...interestingly enough, we are in a similar situation. Ben Affleck has had a history of either being goofy in his movies, or just plain bad. Not to mention being really bad in a major superhero movie too! People are again making statements like they will never ever see Batman vs. Superman (if that is indeed it’s real name) and that Warner Brothers/DC have again destroyed a superhero franchise. But let’s hold up a minute. The Joker was a role that defined how great of an actor Heath Ledger was (unfortunately it consumed him). Could Batman do the same for Ben (without the consumption part)? Heck, Ben has proven he can act before, most especially of late, so I say let’s give him a chance and we could be pleasantly surprised.

Who’s with me???

Somehow I imagine crickets chirping after I said that...