Hans Zimmer Quit Superhero Movies Because Of Ben Affleck And ‘Batman V Superman’

Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice far from measured up to any installment from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, as it scored just 27 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It turns out that it wasn’t just critics that were left non-plussed by the blockbuster, because Hans Zimmer, who composed the music for the film, has admitted that he struggled to invest in it, too.

Hans Zimmer made this rather frank admission during his recent discussion with Inverse, as he revealed that he struggled to resonate with Ben Affleck’s incarnation of the Caped Crusader after previously providing the music for Christian Bale’s version. The German musician admitted that he struggled to “feel the pain” of Ben Affleck’s Batman, especially when compared to Christian Bale’s performance and arc in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises.

“I spent months trying to come up with something for Ben. The Batman that I know and the one I learned is the one that Christian did, and Ben plays it differently. And I can’t quite shake that off. For me, the Christian Bale character was always completely unresolved. It was always about that moment at the beginning of the first movie, where he sees his parents getting killed. It was basically arrested development. The Ben character is more middle-aged, he seems to be grumpy as hell but I didn’t feel the pain that I felt in Christian’s performance. And it was that pain that made be interested.”

Even before Hans Zimmer signed up to work on Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice he admitted that it would be a struggle for him to bring the same kind of verve and originality to the blockbuster that he’d provided on the previous Batman films. Hans Zimmer admitted as much during his discussion with Vulture, explaining that even though Zack Snyder had asked him to return for the film he was considering turning down the offer for a variety of reasons.

“Quite seriously, the thought right now is that no, I don’t want to go and take what I did with Chris and just plonk it into another movie. There isn’t one good reason to do it, and there are so many good reasons not to do it… At the same time, I wouldn’t want to put the ideas I used in the Chris Nolan Batman movies into a Superman movie. It just wouldn’t feel right.”

Hans Zimmer actually brought on Junkie XL to provide additional music for the film, with the plan being that he’d work on the Batman material, and then Hans Zimmer would compose the Superman side of the score. Junkie XL had previously provided additional material and music for Man Of Steel.

Ultimately, things didn’t quite transpire in this fashion, as the final Batman theme used by Zack Snyder was written by both Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. After finally agreeing to work on Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Hans Zimmer clearly found things a little difficult.

In fact, Hans Zimmer’s above comments to Inverse regarding his retirement from the superhero genre is actually the second time we’ve heard such a declaration from the composer, as he previously told BBC Hardtalk that, after spending a large amount of the last decade and a half on superhero movies, he wanted to move onto pastures new.

“I did Batman Begins with Chris [Nolan] 12 years ago. So The Dark Knight trilogy may be three movies to you. To me, it was 11 years of my life. Then I did Superman, then I did this one. I have officially retired from the superhero business.”

Hans Zimmer has done just that over recent years, and in the next few months we’ll be able to hear his work on the likes of Dunkirk and The Boss Baby when they’re released into cinemas.

[Featured Image by Warner Bros]