Two bits of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice news popped up Sunday that had nothing to do with pictures or videos of filming on the Detroit set. The first confirmed the rumored age of Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne and the second was a confirmation that some of the rumors for film are true from actor Harry Lennix, who played General Swanwick in Man of Steel .
Bruce Wayne’s age in Batman v Superman has been an on-going set of theories. This is due in part to the obvious influences from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns comic series featuring a 55-year old Caped Crusader who comes out of retirement. Ben Affleck showing up on set sporting gray hair around the temples also hinted at the possible age range of the character too. It turns out the about to turn 42-year old actor will be portraying an only slightly older Wayne.
“We’ve been through this I don’t know how many times already,” Executive Producer Michael Uslan told APP.com in defending Affleck’s casting as Batman. “Every time a director makes a creative, out-of-the-box-thinking decision on casting, it tends to get this. I remember even the ‘Iron Man’ guys got it on Robert Downey Jr. initially.”
“Of course, we got it intensely when another genius, Chris Nolan, chose Heath Ledger to play the Joker (in 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’). And it was a huge outcry: ‘How can a guy who just played a gay cowboy (in 2005’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’) play the Joker? You’re going to destroy the greatest villain ever, this is going to be a laugh,’” he continued before giving away the character’s age.
“So, this has happened time and again, and it happened with Affleck. To go back to the original thought of Bruce Wayne in his mid-40s, I think he’s going to be extraordinary.”
Meanwhile, Bleeding Cool caught wind of a video interview featuring Harry Lennix with ScreenweekTV . The actor discussed how he was thrilled to work on Man of Steel because Superman was his favorite hero growing up and how exciting it is that both Batman and Superman “might in some way confront each other” in the upcoming movie.
“What I love about this particular script with these people involved… is that they treat these stories, these mythologies seriously. It’s not just fun and games, and tongue-in-cheek. They mean to apply a serious treatment to the superhero subject,” Lennix said.
The actor was then very careful about his answer when asked about what fans can expect from Batman v Superman , for obvious reasons. He did hint at the overall tone of the film plus that some of the rumors out there are true.
“When you have these two characters going head-to-head, but you’ve got to make it hopefully into something that can keep going, it can prevent a very interesting challenge to a writer. I can say that the script that I read is very good. It is very dramatic and you can find out a lot more about it than I am able to say anything about, because we sign contracts, by going on to the internet. Some of the fans have more information about it than I have. I can say that some of it seems to be informed. I don’t know where they got their information [laughs].”
The tone that Lennix described is consistent with previous films in the DC Comics universe like Man of Steel and The Dark Knight . It also helps keep a healthy contrast between characters like Superman and Batman versus the Marvel comic movies, which The Avengers director Joss Whedon likes as well.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be released to theaters on March 25, 2016 after being moved away from Captain America 3 . It is directed by Zack Snyder and stars Henry Cavill (Clark Kent / Superman), Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Gal Gadot (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Jesse Eisenberg (Lex Luthor), Jeremy Irons (Alfred), Ray Fisher (Victor Stone / Cyborg), Holly Hunter, and Scoot McNairy.
[Image via Warner Bros]