Bruce Wayne (DC Extended Universe)
Bruce Wayne, also known by his vigilante alias Batman, is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe based on the character of the same name. The character was portrayed by Ben Affleck in Zack Snyder's 2016 superhero film ' and its follow up Justice League, leading to fans nicknaming this iteration of the character "Batfleck"', a portmanteau of "Batman" and "Affleck". In the films' universe, Bruce had already been fighting crime as Batman for some time before the emergence of Superman, and despite initially butting heads with him, Batman comes to appreciate the former and starts the Justice League in his honor.
The DCEU marks the fifth time Batman was portrayed in film, but the first to share a film series with other DC superheroes such as Superman and Wonder Woman. Although the announcement of Affleck's casting in Batman v Superman was initially met with intense fan backlash, his performance ultimately met with a positive reception in an otherwise divisive film. Affleck was later hired to write, direct, and star in his own stand-alone Batman film entitled The Batman'' before stepping down from both roles, with Robert Pattinson signed to replace him.
Development and casting
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was Affleck's second film as a comic book superhero; he played Daredevil in the 2003 film of the same name, and was initially reluctant to accept playing Batman, citing that he "felt didn't fit the traditional mold. But once Zack showed the concept, and that it would be both different from the great movies that Christopher Nolan|Chris and Christian Bale|Christian made, but still in keeping with tradition, was excited." Affleck previously stated in 2006 that Daredevil had "inoculated from ever playing another superhero".Snyder cast an older Batman to be a layered juxtaposition against a younger Superman; while "bear the scars of a seasoned crime fighter, but retain the charm that the world sees in billionaire Bruce Wayne." Nolan was involved with the casting of Affleck and he was the first actor Snyder approached for the part. The director had also discussed the part with Josh Brolin. It was initially claimed that Bale wanted to play Batman again after The Dark Knight Rises, though he stated that his Batman does not belong in any other film and he was never approached by Warner Bros. to play the role again. Bale ultimately decided not to reprise the role out of respect for Christopher Nolan's creative direction and the fact that the Dark Knight trilogy provided a full arc for the character.
Following Justice League, Affleck stepped away from the role and English actor Robert Pattinson was cast to replace him in The Batman, beating out other actors such as Nicholas Hoult. Affleck left the role due to fatigue and a myriad of events in his personal life, though it was also alleged to be due to Snyder's departure from the DCEU and subsequent creative differences with other directors and writers. With Synder's return to the franchise with the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League, a director's cut of the prior film, rumored reports of Affleck's own return to the DCEU have surfaced, though Pattinson will continue to star in The Batman. Any future Batman-related project in the DCEU that Affleck takes a part of would likely serve to create a multiverse within the franchise.
Characterization
The DCEU version of Batman has been noted to be more brooding and jaded than previous cinematic iterations of the character, and was influenced by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which shows Batman in his 50s. He is noticeably older than Clark Kent when first meeting him in Batman v Superman and has witnessed not only the murders of his parents at a young age, but also that of his protegé Jason Todd, who served as Robin until his capture and death at the hands of the Joker. Affleck said this Batman "is a little older, he's a little more world-weary. He's been around the block once or twice so he's a little wiser but he's definitely more cynical and a little darker and more jaded", adding that Batman has gotten "more exposed to the violence and the criminal element of that world over time." However, like previous iterations of the character, including that of Michael Keaton's and Christian Bale's portrayals, Affleck's Batman has also become the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and taken on protecting Gotham City from a wide variety of criminals, ranging from Floyd Lawton and Digger Harkness to the Joker and Harley Quinn. Affleck's Batman shares a similarity with Bale's in that both fell into a well and were swarmed by bats, developing a crippling fear until overcoming it.Bruce possesses a serious, tough, calculating, and tactical persona and is known to be highly dedicated and determined as a crime-fighter, possessing genius-level intellect and peak physical conditioning. He is brave, bold, and completely willing to risk his own life for the sake of others, as demonstrated in Justice League. Despite being described as caring and selfless, he is driven by ruthlessness and cruelty to deal with his enemies, causing his inner demons to sometimes overwhelm his better judgement; while originally holding a code to never kill his enemies, not even Joker after he kills Robin, Batman eschews this policy after witnessing the "Black Zero" event as seen in Man of Steel, becoming considerably more hardcore in his approach to fighting crime in Gotham City afterwards, as he kills numerous adversaries and attempts to kill Superman in Batman v Superman. However, after seeing Superman's selflessness and sacrifice, a guilt-ridden Batman relents.
Voice and equipment
Like previous iterations of Batman, the DCEU Batman utilizes a different voice than the unmasked Bruce Wayne, but instead of manually altering his voice, he relies on a voice modulator to digitally alter it. Affleck notes that a well known billionaire such as Bruce Wayne would likely have his voice recognized. Zack Snyder also decided to give Batman a cloth-based Batsuit with exception to his powered exoskeleton in Batman v Superman, commenting "I had a really strong idea about what I wanted to do – I really wanted to do sort of a fabric-based Batman; not what's become the more normal, armored Batman. That's how we evolved it."Themes
In Batman v Superman, Richard Brody of The New Yorker notices an allegory to American politics; Batman, according to Brody, represents the Democratic Party, whereas Superman represents the Republican Party. Brody feels this notion is supported by the fact that Batman's eyes glow blue when he is wearing the exoskeleton and Superman's glow red when he uses his heat vision. Brody notes:However, Kofi Outlaw of ComicBook.com interpreted the allegory the other way around: that Batman represents "the right-wing hawk reaction to 9/11... an America that prefers security over civil liberties; the Bush-era mentality of stopping threats pro-actively before they can threaten close to home". He also compares the "Black Zero" event to 9/11. Meanwhile, Superman, Outlaw writes, represents "the more left-wing, liberal, American ideal", while Lex Luthor represents "insidious opportunists who exploited the turmoil of a post-9/11, war-torn, world for personal gain." Outlaw suggests that the scene where Batman and Superman find common ground in their mothers is parallel to the notion that conflicting political ideologies still have similarities.
Film appearances
''Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' (2016)
Bruce's background is quickly explored during the opening credits of the film. In 1981, the Wayne family leaves a theater after attending a viewing of The Mark of Zorro when they are held at gunpoint by a mugger, who shoots both Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne to death in front of their son Bruce before fleeing. During his parents' funeral, Bruce runs away, only to fall down a dry well, and be attacked by a swarm of bats. This would later inspire him to use that fear to battle the criminal element that took his parents' lives. After years of training, Bruce becomes the CEO of his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, while also becoming Batman, fighting crime in Gotham City and gaining a protege in Jason Todd until his murder in 2006. During the events of Man of Steel, Bruce happens to be in Metropolis at the same time as Superman's battle with General Zod, which results in the destruction of several skyscrapers, including the Metropolis Wayne Tower, as the Kryptonians throw each other across the city. Enraged at Superman's apparent lack of care for innocent bystanders, Bruce devotes himself to taking Superman down, deeming him a threat to humanity.Batman is shown rescuing several women from sex trafficker Cesar Santos at the beginning of the movie, brutally beating him and branding him with a Bat symbol before leaving him for the police. Bruce first encounters Clark Kent at a gala held by Lex Luthor in Gotham City. Clark, there as a reporter covering the event and suspecting that Bruce is Batman, asks Bruce about his opinion on Batman much to the latter's annoyance. This leads to an argument about the deeds of Superman compared with Batman's, before Luthor injects himself into the conversation to introduce himself. Bruce is at the gala to try and steal information from Luthor, having ruled out a heist after his butler Alfred Pennyworth informs him of the event, and is also seeking kryptonite in an attempt to take on Superman. As he plants a device to steal and decrypt information from Luthor's servers, another attendee, museum curator Diana Prince, takes notice and steals the device before Bruce can get back to it. He later tracks down Diana at a museum, where she explains that she was after a piece of information that Luthor had taken from her. As she is unable to get past the data's military-grade encryption, she returns the device to Bruce. Returning home to decrypt the information, Bruce falls asleep during the process and dreams of an evil Superman leading an insurgency to take over the world. Bruce fights against Superman's soldiers in a war before being captured and killed by Superman for taking "her from ". Waking up from the dream, he encounters a mysterious time-traveling man, who tells him that Lois Lane "is the key" and to "find the others" before vanishing.
Looking at Luthor's files, he realizes that not only was Luthor after kryptonite, but was also researching metahumans around the world, one of which includes Diana, also known as "Wonder Woman". He tells Alfred of his intent to take and weaponize kryptonite to fight Superman, having assumed that all Kryptonians are evil and being driven by his nightmare to eliminate any chance of Superman's corruption. Alfred, however, is more skeptical, believing that Superman's intentions are not malevolent. While attempting to intercept Luthor's men during a kryptonite shipment, Batman is ambushed by Superman himself, who has heard of Batman's own questionable brand of justice and was enraged by the killing of Cesar Santos in prison, which revealed Batman's torture. Superman leaves Batman a warning to "give up his crusade" while Batman promises to make the god-like alien "bleed". Bruce later hears of the explosion at the United States Capitol during Superman's public congressional hearing that kills everyone inside except Superman, and is further enraged. He then breaks into a well-guarded LexCorp facility as Batman and steals kryptonite, killing and injuring several of Luthor's men. He creates several weapons from the kryptonite including grenades and a spear and upgrades his Batsuit with a powered exoskeleton while physically training to match better match up to Superman's strength.
Once Superman is brought out of hiding by Luthor, he faces Batman, trying to tell him of the situation despite being told by Luthor to fight and kill Batman. Batman, however, is ready to fight, weakening Superman with a kryptonite smoke grenade and attacking him. Despite putting up a fight, Superman is subdued after Batman launches another kryptonite grenade. As Batman prepares to move in for the kill using the spear, Superman pleads with him to "save Martha" - the same name as Batman's mother. Batman pauses in confusion, yelling "why did you say that name?" until Lois arrives and explains that Superman was referring to his own mother, who had been captured by Luthor and held hostage unless Superman killed Batman. Coming to his senses about how far he has fallen from grace, Batman sets out to rescue Martha Kent, killing mobster Anatoli Knyazev in the process. Superman regains his strength and confronts Luthor, realizing that he had manipulated him and Batman to fight each other.
Luthor executes his backup plan, unleashing a monster genetically engineered from DNA from both Zod's body and his own. Having heard of the mayhem, Diana arrives in her armor with her metahuman powers on display, joining forces with Batman and Superman against the creature. Though outmatched, Superman realizes its vulnerability to kryptonite and retrieves the spear, impaling the creature with it as Wonder Woman restrains the monster and Batman stuns it with his last kryptonite grenade, but Superman is killed by the dying Doomsday in the process. Following Luthor's arrest, Batman confronts him in prison, warning him that he will always be watching. Luthor gloats that Superman's death has made the world vulnerable to powerful alien threats. A memorial is held for Superman in Metropolis. Clark is also declared dead, and Wayne and Prince both attend his funeral in Smallville. Bruce tells Diana that he regrets having failed Superman in life. He asks for her help to form a team of metahumans, starting with those named in Luthor's files, to protect the world in Superman's absence. After everyone leaves, the dirt atop Clark's coffin levitates.
''Suicide Squad'' (2016)
Batman is shown chasing down the Joker and Harley Quinn during a flashback in the film, resulting in Quinn's capture and incarceration. He also gets into an entanglement with Deadshot during an earlier flashback. While Batman gets the best of him, Deadshot pulls out his rifle and is prepared to kill Batman, but Deadshot's daughter, Zoe, gets in the way and persuades her father to surrender. Bruce Wayne later meets with Amanda Waller during a mid-credits scene, trying to persuade her to dissolve Task Force X or else "his friends" would.''Wonder Woman'' (2017)
Bruce does not appear onscreen, but sends a correspondence to Diana Prince, including a photographic plate from 1918 depicting Prince with four men during World War I.''Justice League'' (2017)
Following the events of Batman v Superman, Wayne and Diana Prince follow on their plans to locate more metahumans in the wake of Superman's death with a global threat from Steppenwolf re-emerging after thousands of years, especially after Bruce, as Batman, encounters one of Steppenwolf's Parademons terrorizing a Gotham City criminal. Bruce easily manages to persuade Barry Allen, also known as "the Flash", to join, but faces difficulty in recruiting Arthur Curry, also known as "Aquaman", until Steppenwolf attacks Curry's home of Atlantis.Wayne and Allen join up with Diana and Victor Stone, also known as "Cyborg", as they receive intel from Gotham City Police commissioner James Gordon. The team sets out to an underwater facility between Metropolis and Gotham City in order to rescue Stone's father Silas and other employees of S.T.A.R. Labs, whom Steppenwolf and his forces had kidnapped in an attempt to locate the last Mother Box, one of three devices sought to reshape the world. After the group rescues the employees and seizes the Mother Box to analyze it following a skirmish, with Aquaman arriving last-minute to save them from a flood, Bruce decides to use the device to resurrect Superman after hearing from Victor that Silas had used it to revive him after a horrific accident. Diana and Curry are hesitant about this idea, but Wayne forms a secret contingency plan in case Superman returns as hostile.
Barry and Victor exhume Clark Kent's body, which is placed into an amniotic fluid inside the Kryptonian scout ship used to create Doomsday. Flash activates the Mother Box, which successfully revives Superman. However, Superman's memories have not returned, and he attacks the group after Stone accidentally launches a projectile at him. Superman remembers Batman's aggression towards him, grabbing Batman off the ground and nearly killing him, but Batman enacts his contingency plan: Lois Lane. Superman calms down and leaves with Lane to his family home in Smallville, where he reflects, and his memories slowly come back. In the turmoil, the Mother Box is left unguarded, allowing Steppenwolf to retrieve it with ease.
The team recuperates at the Batcave while Diana attends to Bruce's wounds. Without Superman, the five heroes travel to a village in Russia where Steppenwolf aims to unite the Mother Boxes once again to remake Earth. Batman decides embark on a suicidal charge to distract Steppenwolf while the other members separate the Mother Boxes, though the plan is unsuccessful. Superman, having regained his memories, arrives and assists Allen in evacuating the city, as well as Stone, in separating the Mother Boxes. The team defeats Steppenwolf, who, overcome with fear, is attacked by his own Parademons before they all teleport away.
After the battle, Bruce and Diana agree to set up a base of operations for the team, with room for more members, and Bruce begins rebuilding the destroyed Wayne Manor for this purpose. Bruce then makes amends with Clark, buying out the bank trying to foreclose Martha Kent's farm in Smallville and offering Superman the mantle of leadership for the newly-minted Justice League.
will portray a younger version of the character in The Batman
Other appearances
''Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' prequel comics
Batman appears in some comics which serve as a prequel to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice but follow after the events of Man of Steel. In the comics, he fights and defeats Firefly and his henchmen, encounters Superman while defending middle school students from criminals armed with Kryptonian firearms, and expresses to his butler Alfred his concern that Superman will turn against humanity, whereas Alfred suggests that Bruce may have some professional jealousy towards Superman.Reception
Upon the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Affleck received considerable praise for his performance, despite the overall mixed reception of the film itself and the initial negative reaction to his casting. Conner Schwerdtfeger of CinemaBlend specifically notes that Affleck's portrayal is faithful to the comics, showcasing the best of Batman's intellectual and physical abilities while balancing both Bruce Wayne and Batman, whereas Michael Keaton focused too much on Batman and Christian Bale on Bruce Wayne. However, Affleck and Zack Snyder were both criticized for the decision to have Batman kill people, a departure from the character's unwritten rule to never kill.After Affleck stepped away from the role and following the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League, a trending social media event titled #ThanksBatfleck emerged on July 24, 2020, with fans expressing gratitude to Affleck for his contributions to the role of Batman.