Ben Affleck Humiliated By Batman v Superman?

Ben Affleck becoming Executive Producer on Justice League reportedly a move to placate Affleck after bad Batman v Superman reception

I’d say Batman v Superman’s record (both critically and financially) is pretty much in the can, and it has some things to be proud of. It’s got the biggest opening weekend of all time, will finish as the number 7 superhero movie of all time globally (though it won’t crack the top ten domestically and will probably be knocked down a peg in both categories when all is said and done for Civil War) and features the first time we actually got to see Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman together on the big screen.

But in a world where expectations are everything, Batman v Superman failed to deliver on all the fronts that a Warner Bros. exec can point to as positives. It was expected to gross a billion dollars or more, it fell far short of that. It was expected to be a “crowd pleasing” movie and let’s face it, at best the general public is pretty divided on it. And finally, I really think Warner Bros. expected it to review well and it definitely did not do that. So regardless what you think of Batman v Superman personally, it’s a pretty massive disappointment to the studio.

And not just the studio. We reported yesterday that Ben Affleck was named executive producer on the upcoming Justice League film, and while certainly this was a move intended to reign in Zack Snyder’s vision on Justice League (because he literally believes a comic book isn’t cool without sex and gore, and thinks Batman should be raped in prison), it is apparently also a move to placate their big comic book movie star.

Birth-Death-Movies  reports rumors that Ben Affleck was basically incredibly unhappy and embarrassed by the reception of Batman v Superman. But not just that. Apparently when Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara announced him as director of the upcoming Batman film, a deal wasn’t actually finalized yet, making Affleck’s agent furious. So essentially making Affleck executive producer on Justice League serves a dual role, supposedly placating Ben Affleck and making sure one of the few generally well-received bits of Batman v Superman has more control over what happens with the movie.

Next: Ben Affleck Becomes Executive Producer On Justice League

Of course, these are rumors with nothing official to substantiate them, but Affleck has definitely been named executive producer on Justice League and multiple sites have independently reported that Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. are continuously butting heads over the film. Like I said previously, hopefully what we need for Zack Snyder to make a good Justice League movie is someone he trusts like Affleck, who might respect his vision for the film, but also reign him in a little. Say “hey Zack, I know you are super intent a making Flash a meth addict, but maybe we don’t need to do that…”