When you look at the progression of Batman over time, the decision to switch from Christian Bale to Ben Affleck for the film Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice seems to be a bit of a surprise. Of course, at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, it looks like Batman has moved on into an anonymous life, having left the sobriquet Bruce Wayne behind. The arrival of Superman and the initiation of a rivalry, though, seems like it would have been enough to bring Wayne back from secrecy. However, there was a quote from a source about this that made it clear that it is changes in the needs of the audience that caused the shift from Bale to Affleck. Critic Evan Jacobs writes, “Christian Bale’s Dark Knight always appeared one step ahead of the game. Whether he was working with friend or foe, he just seemed to be where ne heeded to be before anybody else ever got there. Conversely, Ben Affleck’s Batman is behind the eight ball a lotthis might seem like a liability while it actually lets us see more into his mindset” (Jacobs, web). This quote appears to indicate that audiences want to see more of the musings of their Dark Knight, rather than simply seeing and enjoying the action that takes place in the film. It is fairly clear from the popularity of the two movies with Michael Keaton playing Batman that those musings were also popular. One wonders at what point the musings of the characters will become more important than the things they do. At some point, will the movies simply become monologues?
Works Cited
Jacobs, Evan. “7 Ways Ben Affleck is a Better Batman than Christian Bale.” MovieWeb 28 March
2016. Web. 25 April 2016.
