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Kevin Smith Wanted Christian Bale for ‘Batman v. Superman’

It seems Ben Affleck cannot catch a break when it comes to fans liking his portrayal of Batman. He is often criticized and compared to Christian Bale’s portrayal of the character in the Dark Knight trilogy.

Some fans believe that the DCEU would have been better if he had come back to reprise the famous role in Batman v. Superman.

Kevin Smith, comic media mogul, has revealed that he would have had a preference of his own. He would have preferred Christian Bale, instead of Ben Affleck.
He revealed his opinion during the latest episode of his Fat Man on Batman podcast which he co hosts with Mark Bernardin. A fan initially asked him the question, and he gave his honest response. He thinks Christian would have made the films better.

“Number one, I like your movie a lot more,” Smith said of a Batman v Superman with Bale. “It feels like, I mean, was that, they weren’t saying that Ben was Christian Bale, but they were saying like ‘oh he’s been around for years he’s not that guy anymore.’ I think I would have preferred it, and I’m not, this ain’t sh**ting on Affleck, but as a guy who loved the Nolan trilogy when they announced like hey they’re making Man of Steel and Chris Nolan’s a producer on it, ‘I was like “oh f**k man, so that means like his Batman and his Superman will coexist’ and then ultimately it wound up being Zack Snyder’s Superman… Batman instead. I would have preferred the Christian Bale version just as a continuity freak of like yeah, all these f**kers… and also it would have been like, what does everyone b**ch about DC movies doing? Oh, they’re trying to be like Marvel and catch up to Marvel. They had it right there. They were like making these f**king Batman movies forever so now we’re just going to connect them, so we’ve got a universe but instead they launched a brand-new universe.”

Smith touched on his knowledge that the films have been very popular with fans, and thinks it would have been the best decision to have Bale back. Bernardin had the same thoughts, and added that connecting the endings of Dark Knight Rises to Man of Steel that way.

“And not only that, but then it becomes an emotional story, it becomes what makes this guy give up happiness like what does Superman do … we won’t discuss the fact that Batman retired because Batman doesn’t f**king retire, but had he retired, what’s enough to pull this guy away from the dream he’s always had of having the girl, of having the paradise, of having to be able to not be haunted and tortured by his parents’ death what brings the guy to put the suit back on?” Bernardin said.

Bringing Bale’s Batman back would clearly have worked well in theory, but Bale has set a firm stance publicly on ever suiting up again. He doesn’t want people to expect him to be stepping back into that world, DCEU or other, any time soon.
DC’s next to be released feature film Aquaman on swims our way on December 21. Shazam! hits theaters April 5, 2019, along with Wonder Woman 1984 on November 1, 2019.
Then, Cyborgin and Green Lantern Corps in 2020.