Remember Ben Affleck's face when a BBC interviewer asked him about the abysmal Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice reviews? It was that listless, defeated stare that became a meme set to Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence." Now, we know that somewhere behind those dead eyes, Affleck was thinking about how right all of that criticism was.
"I can understand people saying [Batman v Superman] was too dark, or this was outside the tone of what I'm used to seeing with a Batman story, and I think that's a fair criticism," he said in a new interview with Empire Magazine.
But, if it's any consolation, things are probably maybe supposed to change in the upcoming Justice League.
"This was all scripted and set up before that movie came out," Affleck said. "The approach was changed anyway for the second one. It was natural progression."
Okay, whatever.
The problem is, again changing the tone of the DC Cinematic Universe shows just how poorly planned this tentpole franchise was from the beginning. Currently, along with making these heroes watchable for Justice League, Warner Bros. is changing its entire strategy. They're currently in the process of making the films less focused on interconnectivity, while setting up a completely separate new banner for stand-alone movies (along with two-too-many Joker movies).
Meanwhile, Ben Affleck's role in the next Batman movie continues to diminish while he continues to distance himself from the franchise.
Things are going well here. This is fine.
