Ben Affleck has worn the Batman cowl in two feature films and one cameo. If you ask him which of those still hurts, he answers without hesitation.
Speaking with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Affleck described the production of 2017’s Justice League as “so, so negative” and said the film’s reshoots marked “the low point” of his acting career. That’s his entire acting career, not just his time in the cape, which is a striking admission.
He also left little doubt that fans hoping to see him play Batman again probably shouldn’t get their hopes up.
Affleck points the finger at Warner Bros.
“I really saw how not to make a movie like that when the studio is at odds with the filmmaker. You’re really making a mistake,” Affleck said.
His comments referred to the tension between Warner Bros. and director Zack Snyder, which developed after Snyder’s earlier DC outing, Batman v Superman, was poorly received by both critics and moviegoers. “That was what really doomed that,” Affleck said.
The situation only deteriorated from there. In May 2017, Snyder left the project following his daughter’s death by suicide, and Warner Bros. tapped Avengers director Joss Whedon to complete post-production. Whedon also oversaw two months of reshoots.
According to Affleck, the studio treated Snyder’s loss as an “excuse” to push him off the movie, which he described as “one of the shittiest things I’d ever seen. It was so gross.” (Reporting that surfaced after Justice League’s release indicated that Warner Bros. had actually fired Snyder before he went public with his departure.)
Hitting bottom during reshoots
A significant portion of the film was reshot under Whedon, and Affleck didn’t mince words, labeling those reshoots “shitty.”
“The whole environment and vibe, much of which I wasn’t privy to, but that I sort of heard about secondhand in terms of Ray [Fisher] and Gal [Gadot] and other people’s experiences, it was just like, ‘Wow, this is about as gross as it gets,'” Affleck said.
Both Fisher, who portrayed Cyborg, and Gadot, who portrayed Wonder Woman, have gone on record about their negative experiences working with Whedon. Whedon’s career has largely ground to a halt since then, following harassment and abuse allegations from Fisher, Gadot and other performers who collaborated with him.
Affleck had his own battles away from the set as well. While the production was unraveling, he was contending with alcoholism and going through a divorce.
How Batman passed to Pattinson
DC’s film timeline can get messy, so here’s a brief recap. Before Robert Pattinson donned the cape and pointed ears for Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the role belonged to Affleck. He had been lined up to direct, produce, co-write and headline a standalone Batman film. When he walked away from that project, Reeves and Pattinson were able to launch their own crime saga.
As a result, Affleck’s Bruce Wayne headlined just two films: 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. He also made a small appearance in 2023’s The Flash.
Justice League was meant to fast-track DC into a cinematic universe. It fell short of that goal.
Everybody moved on
Snyder was ultimately allowed to complete his own version of the film with 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League, something Affleck said left him “glad and gratified.” Snyder has gone on to make several films for Netflix, among them the Rebel Moon series.
Affleck has come out of it in good shape as well. His latest film, Animals, just arrived on Netflix and has quickly become a streaming success, meaning the actor who considers Justice League his career’s low point is now riding high.