--- description: He was more than a little surprised title: Here's How Ben Affleck Reacted When He Got Cast as Batman image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte54c3e8e5b7eee27/6987ec6ae20a872f54a89042/ben-affleck-apology.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's How Ben Affleck Reacted When He Got Cast as Batman by [Keith Staskiewicz / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Keith Staskiewicz / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 3, 2015 6:32 PM CUT  Actor Ben Affleck smiles during a Senate Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, March 26, 2015. Actor Ben Affleck smiles during a Senate Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, March 26, 2015.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Keith Staskiewicz / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Keith Staskiewicz / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 3, 2015 6:32 PM CUT Batman is a sacred role. I mean, this isn’t kid’s stuff. It’s not like just _anyone_ can put on a mask with pointy ears, act with their chin, and growl things like “Where’s Joker?” and “I’m the goddamn Batman.” When it was announced that Ben Affleck would be the fifth actor ever to play the character on the big screen — sixth if you count Adam West in the 1966 movie based on the TV series — there was somewhat more than the expected speculative grumbling on the part of the Comic-Con chattering classes. Some wondered whether the filmmakers had made the right choice, and Affleck was one of them. “My first reaction was, ‘Are you sure?’ ” Affleck says. “At the time I was 40, 41, and had just finished _Argo_, and I felt like ‘This seems like a strange way to get to Batman.’ But Zack convinced me.” [Read more at Entertainment Weekly](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/03/batman-v-superman-ben-affleck-dark-knight-casting "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3945690/ben-affleck-batman-cast/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3945690/ben-affleck-batman-cast/"},"headline":"Here's How Ben Affleck Reacted When He Got Cast as Batman","datePublished":"2015-07-03T18:32:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:57:38.886Z","description":"He was more than a little surprised","url":"https://time.com/3945690/ben-affleck-batman-cast/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte54c3e8e5b7eee27/6987ec6ae20a872f54a89042/ben-affleck-apology.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Keith Staskiewicz / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte54c3e8e5b7eee27/6987ec6ae20a872f54a89042/ben-affleck-apology.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Gates And Ben Affleck","caption":"Bill Gates And Ben Affleck Speak At Senate Panel On Foreign Aid","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3945690/ben-affleck-batman-cast/","name":"Here's How Ben Affleck Reacted When He Got Cast as Batman"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ben Affleck And Jennifer Garner's Rep Confirms Split","description":"One of Hollywood's top couples plans to split after 10 years of marriage. 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