Batfleck refers to the version of Batman played By Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck is one of those guys that seems to piss a lot of people off. We are not sure if it’s because he stole J-Lo from many people’s wall posters or what? But Ben Affleck always gets a hard time, no matter how he handles his roles.
When people found out that he was going to be Batman, people went off! They ripped into him and the producers for choosing him as the one. But this would not be the first time people were wrong about who they have chosen to be, Bruce Wayne. Everyone thought Micheal Keaton would be horrible for the role as well, and he ended up becoming a fan favorite.
The truth is that Batfleck is one of the best Bruce Wayne’s we have ever seen. He is 100% believable as Bruce Wayne, but they did get some major things wrong with him as Batman. If you put the Batfleck Bruce Wayne with Christian Bale Batman, you would have the perfect movie.
1. Physical Build
One of the things that Batman producers consistently get wrong is in choosing these Batman’s with no muscle. It’s angering! Batman in the comics is beefed up!
Think about football players, they have muscle mass because they need to be able to absorb a lot of punishment. Batman has to fight bad guys every night who would be happy to kill him. He can’t be skinny like Michael Keaton, or Christina Bale.
Batfleck was the first Bruce Wayne with muslce mass. He looked like you did not want to mess with him whether he had the Batsuit on or not. That is how Bruce Wayne should be. Batfleck made an argument for the best Bruce Wayne when he looked like a monster in normal clothes.
2. Work Ethic
Never have they showed Batman working out as they did with Batfleck. Batman is one of the most fierce fighters and in Batman Begins they showed how he became Batman. But they have never shown the work he has to put in each and every night. Here at Batman Factor, we talked extensively about the Batman post workout recovery regime. There is a lot of grind that goes into being Batman.
He can’t just be Batman, he does not have any superpowers. The same way that a pro athlete must train to win, Batman must do the same. He has to lift weights, practice his martial arts and build his cardio to be able to last throughout the night. The movie did an amazing job showing that Bruce Wayne has to put in the work to be Batman.
3. Bruce Wayne is The Mask
A lot of people don’t understand that Batman is who Bruce Wayne really is. He acts as Bruce Wayne, so people never catch on to who he really is. Bruce Wayne does not use his Batsuit to hide his identity because Batman is who he feels like he really is. He hates when he has to waste time working on Wayne Enterprises or doing other Bruce Wayne things. He could care less about being the richest man in the land.
Most Batman movies don’t do a great job showcasing the tension between Bruce Wayne and Batman. The Michael Keaton version did a bit, by introducing a love interest that he struggled to commit too. With Christian Bale you could see that he could not let go of Being Batman no matter how much Alfred wanted him to. But none got it right like Batfleck! You could see on his face how miserable he was having to be Bruce Wayne.
4. Emotionally Broken
Bruce Wayne is not a stable guy. He watched both of his parents get shot right in front of him. We have seen this story so many times we get numb to it, but that is a lot of emotional trauma. Imagine seeing the people you love and look up to get murdered in cold blood while you’re a child.
When you see Bruce Wayne in this movie, he never looks happy. His mommy seems not even to matter. He looks depressed and like everything he has to do is a waste of his time. The only thing that matters to him is protecting Gotham so that others don’t need to feel the pain that he has experienced in life. You really feel this pain in the movie. He is 100% disinterested in being Bruce Wayne.
5. Angry Fighter
You have Batfleck, who is clearly still pissed and hurting about his parents. He lives to be in the mask, and he trains like a madman, and what you get is a guy who is ready to PUMMEL Bad guys. It ended up creating one of the best fighting scenes ever in a Batman movie.
The movie got the Batman fighting style down perfectly. The only other Batman to do it as well as the Arkham Knight video games. Batman does not kill, BUT he will beat you down so badly that you’re close to death. He makes bad guys think twice about whether being bad is worth it or not.
3 Reasons Why Batfleck is Not The Best Batman
1. Using Guns
The worst thing about Batfleck Batman is the fact that he uses guns. It’s not accurate, and it’s so against what makes Batman who he is. In Batman Beyond, you see old Bruce Wayne pick up a gun, and that was the thing that made him retire for good. Batman saw his parents killed in cold blood and decided never to use guns. It’s also too easy to kill using guns. A Batman that kills has no reason for a Joker.
The Joker thrives on trying to get Batman to kill people and break his rule. Batfleck was not designed to have an intense duel between him and the Joker because he would grab a gun and kill him.
The fact that the producers of the movie decided to give Batman a gun and make it normal goes against everything that makes Batman special. It goes against years of tradition and comics.
2. Killing
I already touched on this, but if Batman kills people, what makes him better than the man who killed his parents? He took a stand to do what is right and help people but once he crosses that line there is no turning back.
The movie went as far as to have Batman almost kill Superman. It’s intense how many people he shoots and kills in this movie. Batman has no regard for human life at all.
3. Not Smart Enough
They made Batfleck the dumb jock Batman. Alfred is the brains behind his entire operation, which is not accurate to the comics. Batman is a detective first, and he prides himself on doing the detective work needed to solve crimes. Batman has a known high IQ, and he is not scared to use his brain to get the job done.
Bruce Wayne can build and fix his own vehicles and suit; he operates and manages his computers. He can do it with a bit of help from Alfred, but he does most of the heavy lifting. Alfred relies on wisdom and gets some smaller tasks done, but Bruce Wayne has no issue rolling up his sleeves to get work done. The movie did not show this at all!
