Ben Affleck As Batman: Hollywood’s Best Reactions

The cat’s out of the bag, bat-fans. Ben Affleck will don the cowl for 2015’s Man of Steel follow-up, the first time Batman and Superman will be united on the big screen.

Director Zack Snyder is describing Affleck’s Batman as “older and wiser” than Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent (Affleck is 11 years Cavill’s senior) and says he “bears the scars of a seasoned crime fighter, but retain[s] the charm that the world sees in billionaire Bruce Wayne.”

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Hollywood fans on Twitter have their own take on the Argo Oscar winner tackling yet another superhero role after 2003’s Daredevil and 2006’s Hollywoodland.

It’s hard to believe this is something people would be opinionated about. (Kidding.) Josh Gad declared the casting was “genius!” while Richard Dreyfus joked he was up for the role, tweeting: “You read for a part, you feel good about it, you feel confident, then they cast Ben Affleck.”

Others recommended pairings with old Affleck collaborators, with British actor Robert Kazinsky suggesting Matt Damon for the Joker and film critic Stephen Whitty rather unkindly opining Jennifer Lopez should be cast as Catwoman to “torpedo the whole thing.” 

As for Affleck, he has yet to tweet. But a Ben Affleck Batman parody Twitter account popped up and quickly amassed 12,000 followers. It’s been sending messages worthy of a superhero: “I am proud to serve the people of Gotham. And the people are proud to have me.”

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Find more tweets below. We’ll be riding the bat wave and updating throughout the evening.

Holy shit… BEN AFFLECK IS THE NEW BATMAN!!! http://t.co/acivqxFl0U Do you know what this means? It means that I’ve seen Batman naked!!!

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) August 23, 2013

WOW, @BenAffleck is gonna play Batman. I hope he fights the Joke-ah! #wickedpissah

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 23, 2013

You read for a part, you feel good about it, you feel confident, then they cast Ben Affleck.

— Richard Dreyfuss (@RichardDreyfuss) August 23, 2013

Oh please, why not just cast J Lo as Catwoman, too, and REALLY torpedo the whole thing.

— Stephen Whitty (@StephenWhitty) August 23, 2013

OOOOOOOOOOOOH Matt Damon as the new joker? waddya think of them apples?

— Robert Kazinsky (@RobertKazinsky) August 23, 2013

Ben Affleck is the new Batman but CAN HE DO THIS http://t.co/ZJXnBhNUjE

— Sarah Colonna (@sarahcolonna) August 23, 2013

Damon as Robin! Damon as Robin!

— Joshua Malina (@JoshMalina) August 23, 2013

WTF! Ben Affleck is Batman?! That’s genius.

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) August 23, 2013

Awesome ben RT @THR: Ben Affleck is ‘Batman’ for ‘Man of Steel’ Sequel http://t.co/qyg5O9enoS

— garcelleb (@GarcelleB) August 23, 2013

Guess Im not a Batman person because my first reaction was, “Hasn’t he been Batman before?” and my second was, “Who is he married to again?”

— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) August 23, 2013

In the Ben Affleck version, Batman’s parents kill themselves.

— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) August 23, 2013

To every industry/fanboy site that didn’t break the Affleck Batman news: Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves! What do we pay you for?!

— Richard Rushfield (@richardrushfield) August 23, 2013

Would everyone mind tweeting that Affleck is the new Batman? I need to hear it 1252 times before it sinks in

— Richard Rushfield (@richardrushfield) August 23, 2013

Really looking forward to seeing Affleck bring the depth and gravitas to Batman that he brought to Daredevil and Gigli.

— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) August 23, 2013

As an actor who has been undercut by premature criticism in the past, I applaud Affleck for his bravery in stepping … http://t.co/XCisfpk2I9

— Anson Mount (@ansonmount) August 23, 2013

can’t believe they cast a rich white guy to play batman

— Andy Levy (@andylevy) August 23, 2013

When a table full of writers & hosts find out #BenAffleck is the new #Batman. @_RyanTurek @carriekeagan @evandickson http://t.co/ucS4CPRx5B

— Erin Darling (@ErinADarling) August 23, 2013

I am proud to serve the people of Gotham. And the people are proud to have me.

— Ben Affleck Batman (@AffleckBatman) August 23, 2013

Huge congrats to @BenAffleck for landing Batman! Here’s hoping he gets to direct a Bat-movie down the road as well.

— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) August 23, 2013

Spend ten years working your way back into everyone’s good graces. Win an Oscar. Then you get cast as Batman, and BAM! You’re Gigli again.

— Tim Carvell (@timcarvell) August 23, 2013

Ben Affleck already butchered the Daredevil movie and now he’s been cast as Batman??? Some men just want to watch the world burn.

— BANE (@BaneTheBOSS) August 23, 2013

The Aflac Duck is the New Batman…Interesting.

— Paul Scheer (@paulscheer) August 23, 2013

Casting Ben Affleck as Batman sounds like something The Joker would do to create a distraction at the nerd bank.

— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) August 23, 2013

Affleck directing Batman? Could be cool. He’s really finding himself as a director… Wha? Playing Batman? Eeeep!!– A guy who saw Daredevil

— Brian Posehn (@thebrianposehn) August 23, 2013

I just made some calls around Hollywood and I am happy to report that Ben Affleck will be keeping the Argo beard when he plays Batman

— BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) August 23, 2013