In the pop culture world, 2016 has been known for being the year when many large franchises made movies surrounding a big ‘conflict amongst the heros’, with many of the movies responsible being Captain America: Civil War, Transformers: The Last Knight, The Fate of the Furious, and, especially, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

After the launch of the DC Extended Universe with Zach Snider’s Man of Steel, it was announced that Superman would make his next appearance going head to head with the Dark Knight himself in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with Batman being played by Ben Affleck. 

After the news of the casting, many fans thought that Affleck might be too old to play Batman, but what worried fans more was that Batman would not have a solo film before his showdown with Superman.

These possible issues that many worried about would both come to pass, although not exactly as expected. As for the casting of Ben Affleck, the version of Bruce Wayne he was playing was darker, grittier, and had been through a lot before Superman ever showed up, and he was able to portray that greatly in the film.

With that issue solved, the problem of not having a solo film both helped and hurt Ben Aflleck’s Batman. On one hand, everyone knows the story of Batman. His parents get shot, then he becomes Batman to fight crime, so an origin film isn’t really needed, especially since Christopher Nolan’s trilogy explored that so deeply. Unfortunately, without a solo film, this made it harder to understand Batman’s personal motivations for why he wants to stop Superman.

As for his portrayal of Bruce Wayne’s public persona, Ben Affleck talks and acts similar to his private persona, as compared to Christian Bale, where who could tell that the Bruce Wayne seen in public obviously wasn’t his true self.

Ben Affleck played the character well, but, although this is a problem with the writing from the movies and not Affleck himself, the Batman we see in the DCEU isn’t afraid to kill people, as we see him kill several of his enemies in the film. This goes against the character of Batman and makes the character we see in the film feel unlike the hero we want to see.

After BvS, Batman wouldn’t appear again until Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a movie with a lighter tone than his first appearance. We got the chance to see a lighter side of Batman that was ignored before, although the character he plays is ultimately the same with no major changes.

Ben Affleck’s last appearance as Batman will come to a close after the recut and reshot version of Justice League directed by its original director, Zack Snyder, who left the film initially due to personal reasons. 

In the end, Ben Affleck played his character extremely well, and he has given one of the best performances of a character in the DCEU so far, but unfortunately, due to lackluster writing, he was not the hero we needed or deserved.