The DCEU introduced one Batman weakness that made Ben Affleck‘s Dark Knight stand apart from every other live-action movie interpretation of the character. While the original plans for The Batman were scrapped and the DCEU’s Caped Crusader was left without a solo movie, Ben Affleck played Batman five times in the DCEU. Throughout his appearances, Affleck’s Batman forged a clear character arc that took him from a feared, distrustful vigilante to a world-saving hero. By The Flash’s subtly catastrophic ending, Batman had become a wise and seasoned legend to both heroes and civilians.
One of the main criticisms the DCEU’s Batman received was notably his broken no-kill rule. Unlike most iterations of his comic book counterpart, Ben Affleck’s DCEU Batman killed many of his opponents, brutally injuring them with gadgets or melee attacks that left his victims with few possibilities of survival. According to Batman’s backstory, Robin’s off-screen DCEU death made Batman a cynical vigilante who no longer believed in redemption. Other live-action Batman portrayals also broke their respective no-kill rules, but the DCEU’s Batman went out of his way to leave his enemies on the brink of death.
Besides his broken no-kill rule, Ben Affleck’s Batman stands apart from other live-action portrayals of the Dark Knight due to his extraordinary physical prowess. Affleck’s Batman is still the strongest, fastest, more agile, and more durable iteration of the character to appear on the big screen. Moreover, Affleck’s Batman also accepts his mortality when he finds himself in an unsurmountable situation. Batman braces for death when Doomsday engages its heat vision in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s final battle, and he refuses to fight back against Superman when the latter goes rogue in both cuts of Justice League.
Ben Affleck has been plagued by unfairly poor box office results since the DCEU Justice League, a trend that his Batman movie would have countered. Despite being stronger than all other live-action Batmen, the DCEU’s Dark Knight embraces his mortality. Weaker versions of Batman have survived proportionately more dangerous incidents. For instance, Christian Bale‘s Batman survived two falls from tall buildings and healed from a broken back in record time in Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy, and Robert Pattinson‘s Batman came out unscathed from a point-black shotgun blast to the chest and a bomb explosion right in front of his face. Bale and Pattinson’s Batmen had to deal with the physical consequences of these incidents in their respective movies, but they were never truly at risk of dying.
Batman’s near-superhuman physical skills in the DCEU provided a breath of fresh air to a character that has relied on realism for decades on the big screen. So far, the DCEU’s Batman has been the only movie version of the Dark Knight who has coexisted with superhumans, heroes, and villains of all kinds and all over the power level spectrum. Ben Affleck’s Batman is considerably more powerful than dozens of DCEU characters, yet he’s also no match for many others, regardless of how intelligent, experienced, or quick-thinking he may be.
Ben Affleck’s Batman never escapes death using a convoluted, last-second plan. From his introduction in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to his minor appearance in The Flash’s opening sequence, the DCEU’s Batman is depicted as a skilled but flawed hero. When Doomsday almost killed him in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman only survived because Wonder Woman was fast enough to intervene; and when Superman was about to kill him in Justice League, Lois Lane only saved Batman because Alfred was quick enough to carry out Batman’s back-up plan just in time. Ben Affleck’s Batman is a physically powerful genius-level hero, but his limitations are clear.
After a brief animated cameo in Creature Commandos, the DCU’s Batman is gearing up to make his live-action debut in Andy Muschietti’s The Brave and the Bold, if not earlier. The DCU’s Batman will probably be even more powerful than the DCEU’s Dark Knight, not only because the DCU has a wider variety of characters with unparalleled power levels, but also because Creature Commandos already confirmed that Batman has captured villains as powerful as Clayface and Doctor Phosphorus. Like the DCEU’s Batman, the DCU’s version of the Caped Crusader will also cross paths and team up with other powerful heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman.
There is one comic-accurate aspect of Batman that the DCU could capitalize on to ensure its version of the Dark Knight is decidedly unique. All the powerful heroes and villains in the DCU may also force Batman to rely on his wits rather than his physical power. Similarly to Batman’s encounter with Doomsday in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or Batman and the Justice League’s one-sided battle against Superman in Justice League, there’s little the DCU’s Batman may be able to do in a fight against an army of Black Lanterns or mythical figures like Circe, at least in terms of raw strength. Batman’s acknowledgment of his limitations and his mortality could instead push him to find clever ways to stop villains like these in the DCU.
