Ben Affleck, renowned for his role as the Caped Crusader in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, has candidly discussed the "excruciating" experience of portraying Batman for DC. During a recent interview with GQ, Affleck reflected on his decade-long journey as a central figure in the so-called Snyder-verse, revealing the complexities and frustrations that ultimately led to his disinterest in the superhero genre.

"There are a number of reasons why that was a really excruciating experience," Affleck explained. He emphasized that his dissatisfaction wasn't solely due to the nature of superhero films but rather a culmination of various factors. "I am not interested in going down that particular genre again, not because of that bad experience, but just: I’ve lost interest in what was of interest about it to me. But I certainly wouldn’t want to replicate an experience like that."

Affleck has previously touched on these sentiments, but this time he delved deeper into the root causes of his negative experience. He attributed much of it to a "misalignment of agendas, understandings, and expectations" and acknowledged his own role in the situation. "I wasn’t bringing anything particularly wonderful to that equation at the time, either," he admitted.

Reflecting on his performance, Affleck said, "My failings as an actor, you can watch the various movies and judge. But more of my failings, in terms of why I had a bad experience, part of it is that what I was bringing to work every day was a lot of unhappiness." He further elaborated, "So I wasn’t bringing a lot of positive energy to the equation. I didn’t cause problems, but I came in and I did my job and I went home. But you’ve got to do a little bit better than that."

Affleck's journey with DC began when he joined Zack Snyder's Batman v. Superman alongside Henry Cavill. This led to numerous cameos and even a canceled standalone Batman project. Fans will recall his appearances in various team-up films like Justice League (both the 2017 original and the 2021 Snyder Cut), The Flash, and a brief role in Suicide Squad in 2016.

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While details about the canceled Batman film remain scarce, rumors suggest it would have explored 80 years of the Dark Knight, possibly delving into Arkham Asylum and featuring Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke.

Affleck credited longtime collaborator Matt Damon for helping him decide to step away from the role, but he also mentioned that his own son played a significant part in his decision. "But what happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience. Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch (Batman v. Superman). And so when I saw that I was like, 'Oh shit, we have a problem.'"

He continued, "Then I think that’s when you had a filmmaker that wanted to continue down that road and a studio that wanted to recapture all the younger audience at cross purposes. Then you have two entities, two people really wanting to do something different and that is a really bad recipe."

As DC moves forward, it is splitting its storytelling into grittier and more lighthearted paths. The darker narrative will continue with The Batman 2 in 2027, while the lighter tone will be introduced with James Gunn’s DCU, starting with Superman this July. As for Affleck, he has made it clear that he will not return to DC to direct a film in Gunn’s new universe.