Batman: All 13 Bruce Wayne actors ranked from worst to best

8. Ben Affleck

You know that scene in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent crossed paths? That was the moment in which Ben Affleck nailed the Bruce Wayne persona. He had everything: The charm, the style, the enigmatic personality. He had even perfected that Batman: The Animated Series smirk. Unfortunately, this one scene was lightning in a bottle; a glimpse of the excellence we could have had if the shared universe of superheroes hadn’t gone off the rails in the way that it did.

The DC Extended Universe was too grim for its own good. That meant that a character like Batman, known for his broodiness, leaned into that far too much, losing much of the essence of the character in the process. Thus, he didn’t have much of a persona. He just broody and self-loathing. All the time.

Then we pivoted too far too soon, with Justice League and his remaining few DCEU appearances turning him into a gimmicky joke-cracking character – something that neither Bruce nor Batman were known for. He had gone from one extreme to the other, and while Affleck did what he could with what he was given, it was just too jarring.

Affleck was a fantastic Batman, but the material for his Bruce Wayne just wasn’t there. And that prevented him from achieving the heights that we know he could have reached if his character had a more coherent, less broody, direction.