Much like his films that are known to create a chasm between DC fans, Zack Snyder’s casting choices bore a similar effect — case in point, Ben Affleck’s Batman.
The Good Will Hunting Star‘s rendition of the Caped Crusader had viewers split from the get-go. While many lauded the playboy douche x man-tormented-by-his-demons persona that Affleck portrayed so effortlessly, others found it difficult to overlook the remorseless killing machine-esque aspect of his character. This is the crime-fighting vigilante we’re talking about, after all.
But there’s one thing fans appear to be unanimous about — Batman’s shocking, borderline outlandish plot armor.
DC Fans Mock Ben Affleck’s Ludicrous Plot Armor as Batman
Look, the world of superheroes defies reality, we all know that. Superman can beat a formidable adversary from a different planet and Batman can put down a clique of armed villains despite being seriously outnumbered, and no one would bat an eye (pun not intended). But sometimes, even fiction can be too implausible to digest.
While the warehouse fight sequence in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is famously deemed one of the most historical moments in pop culture, there’s one Batman scene from the film that is arguably less extolled. Hint, it involves the Dark Knight somehow surviving an attack by a supervillain stronger than even Kal-El. You guessed it right, it’s the Doomsday one.
Towards the end of Dawn of Justice, Ben Affleck‘s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman (along with Wonder Woman, of course) are left with no choice but to join forces, when Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) unleashes his menacing secret weapon, Doomsday, upon them.
Even if we turn a blind eye to the fact that the ginormous, blob-like monster is one of the few villains who can rival Superman, there’s still the part about Affleck’s Batman leaving Doomsday’s attack – which seems to be apocalyptic – completely unscathed.
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In an Instagram post about the same, fans seem to be ridiculing the fight scene which, under any other circumstances, would’ve put a different superhero six feet under the ground. Meanwhile, Batman warded it off by hiding under a big rock.
“Bro’s plot armour is stronger than Superman’s skin, that’s why [he survived],” one user wrote. “Plot Armour is another synonym of Batman,” another mocked. But mainly, and everyone seems to agree with this one, it’s because he’s Batman (if you know you know).
Zack Snyder on Why Ben Affleck’s Batman Was Darker Than the Comics
While Dawn of Justice may have fared well at the box office, it left many critics and fans red with rage thanks to the violent portrayal of Bruce Wayne by the 51-year-old Argo star. In the comics, the Metropolitan hero has a strict no-kill policy, and while on-screen adaptations may tweak some elements here or there, the Zack Snyder-helmed outing seemed to have gone way beyond just a few changes.
Affleck’s iteration of Batman not only branded criminals in the film, but he even ended up killing many of his adversaries, something that didn’t sit right with the audience. And while Snyder (to a certain extent) sympathizes with the fandom, he seems unable to fathom such an outrage (via The Joe Rogan Experience).
For those guys, it’s not just a movie. And so on some level, you have to acknowledge that this is their religion and they feel strongly about it. It’s my religion, too […] And they [people] go, ‘Well, don’t put him in a situation where he has to kill someone.’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s just like you’re protecting your God in a weird way, right? You’re making your God irrelevant.'”
For the 58-year-old filmmaker, it was much more interesting to put the superhero in a situation where he’d have to put down enemies than letting him “maintain this godlike status.”
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice can be streamed on Max.
