Ever sinceBatman V. Superman came out in February, many fans of the Caped Crusader have been debating who portrayed the character more accurately. While both performances were entertaining to watch, this article's goal is to determine which actor really brought the character to life. This article is not debating which movies were better, only the actors and their portrayals will be criticized.
Portrayal of Batman
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy gave us a few of some of Batman's greatest villains that challenged Batman to his limits. Since Ben Affleck has only recently been seen as Batman in the DCEU, audiences haven't seen him face off against many villains yet.
Ben Affleck has only been seen inBatman V. Supermanand made cameo appearances inSuicide Squad.
Christian Bale faced off against Ra's Al Ghul, Scarecrow, Joker, Bane, Catwoman, and Talia Al Ghul within the three movies in the Dark Knight trilogy. Each villain pushed Batman into becoming his best. Batman learned something after fighting each of those villains. Christian Bale's realistic portrayal of the Dark Knightshowed how hard he can be pushed before fighting back. Christian Bale didn't try and kill every thug he saw. The problem with Christian Bale, other than the voice, was that his Batman wasn't as strong as his Bruce Wayne. As Bruce Wayne, the audience believed that Bruce was deeply tortured and scarred from childhood.
As Batman, audiences loved the fighting and the main story but were not entirely convinced that Batman was scarred as well.
In Ben Affleck's portrayal, Bruce Wayne has been Batman for 20 years and believes that crime isn't going down. He is tired by that fact and decides that he is going to cross the moral line and kill every criminal he can.
Though we see thekilling of random street thugs, we never seeactual super villains killed. Near the end of Batman V. Superman, audiences see himtake down a warehouse full of thugs using a fighting style similar to the Arkham games. That style of fighting has never been used in any film before, which is one of the reasons why Affleckis a bad-ass in this movie even if he does kill people.InSuicide Squad we see Batman deal with Joker, Harley Quinn, and Deadshot.
He doesn't try to kill them, he just stops them from committing more crimes. Batman doesn't seem to kill anyone inSuicide Squad because not only is it out of character, longtime fans know that Batman would never take a life. Even if it is someone as menacing as the Joker.
Portrayal of Bruce Wayne
One major part about playing Batman is being Bruce Wayne. The actors must play both the crusading vigilante and the billionaire playboy. When Christian Bale played Bruce Wayne, he was charming, and a bit of a smart ass at times. Though, we see that Bruce really wants to help Gotham City. He doesn't want it to fall into crime forever. He wants to bring it back to what it can be. A great city for everyone to live in where crime is no longer an issue.
With Ben Affleck's portrayal, we see that his Bruce Wayne not only wants to save the city as Batman, but his Bruce Wayne actually cares about his company. He is invested in what his company does and does not leave it all for Lucius Fox to take care of. Affleck's Wayne also takes things to the extreme.After the destruction of his company building seen inBatman V. Superman,Bruce wants to kill Superman because of the damage Superman caused to Metropolis.
Verdict
While both Christian Bale and Ben Affleck had their ups and downs portraying the Caped Crusader, Ben Affleck has portrayed Batman the best. Batman has always been shown as a man who is willing to give it all in order to protect his city. Batman also is a brilliant strategist with a unique fighting style.Ben Affleck has shown all these qualities in his portrayal and eventually evolved into one of the greatest versions of the character onscreen.The clear winner is Ben Affleck.
