After months of speculation and rumors about who would next play the Caped Crusader, it was announced late Thursday that Batman will be none other than Ben Affleck.
Warner Brothers said the Argo star will take on the role in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel from director Zack Snyder. Fans have known since this year’s Comic-Con that the Steel follow-up will feature not only Henry Cavill as Superman but also his fellow DC Comics vigilante Batman. And based on the suggested source material (the comic The Dark Knight Returns), it’s been thought that whoever would fill Bruce Wayne’s bodysuit would have to go head-to-head with Cavill when the two classic heroes battle it out.
With all that anticipation (and coming off Christian Bale’s acclaimed run as Batman) online reactions to the news that Affleck has the job have been unsurprisingly vocal, and largely negative. Here are seven reasons why, according to the Twitter-verse, it is the duty of every good citizen of Gotham to criticize Ben Affleck:
7. The hashtag “#BetterBatmanThanBenAffleck” still leaves you 113 characters to make a suggestion
Duh. Obviously. “@J4neFrancis: @BBBaumgartner #BetterBatmanThanBenAffleck”
— Brian Baumgartner (@BBBaumgartner) August 23, 2013
6. The world has not yet forgotten Gigli
Oh please, why not just cast J Lo as Catwoman, too, and REALLY torpedo the whole thing.
— Stephen Whitty (@StephenWhitty) August 23, 2013
(MORE: Christian Bale to Play Moses)
6b. …or Daredevil
Oh man, I hope the next movie’s gonna be “Batman vs. Daredevil”! All Affleck all the time!!!
— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) August 23, 2013
5. A more interesting choice would have been to have him direct
Affleck directing Batman? Could be cool. He’s really finding himself as a director… Wha? Playing Batman? Eeeep!!– A guy who saw Daredevil
— Brian Posehn (@thebrianposehn) August 23, 2013
4. This casting move is only okay if Matt Damon plays Robin
An overwhelming majority of PEOPLE readers think Ben’s BFF Matt Damon would make a rockin’ Robin: http://t.co/BgoRwnqXlR #Batman
— People magazine (@peoplemag) August 23, 2013
(WATCH: Batman Theme Song Performed by Bats)
3. Gotham isn’t Boston
“You like apples, Riddl-ah?” You can totally use that one, @BenAffleck.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 23, 2013
2. He’s not Richard Dreyfuss
You read for a part, you feel good about it, you feel confident, then they cast Ben Affleck.
— Richard Dreyfuss (@RichardDreyfuss) August 23, 2013
1. Because of Twitter
On a larger level, the heated reaction to Affleck’s casting news exposes one of the problems with gauging public opinion using Twitter. It’s a great medium for expressing extreme excitement and an even better medium for expressing derision (after all, a quippy one-liner is more fun to write than “OMG!” is). Because Affleck’s casting is unexpected but not totally crazy — he’s already a major star — the positive reactions to the news so far are mostly along the lines of “he could do a good job,” which is not a very interesting thing to say on Twitter.
Not that that’s stopping some people:
Everyone hating on Ben Affleck for batman? I LOVE IT. You get it Ben. Let me get my Alias on with your wife! 💋✌
— NiC0LE P0LiZZi (@snooki) August 23, 2013