Kevin Smith Wishes That The DCEU Cast Christian Bale As Batman

A lot of DC fans might have loved Ben Affleck's rendition of the Dark Knight in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but cult director and comic book connoisseur Kevin Smith wishes that Christian Bale would have been the DC Extended Universe's Caped Crusader instead.

Going over Warner Brother's various creative decisions in his podcast, Fatman on Batman (via Cinema Blend), the Clerks director admitted that he would have actually wanted to see Bale continue his role as Batman from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy instead of having Affleck take over the role.

Why? Though some would assume that Smith has something against the gritty and aged Batman of Affleck, the director simply wants a bit of continuity in the DCEU, especially seeing that Nolan co-wrote and produced Man of Steel.

"It feels like they weren't saying that Ben was Christian Bale, but they were saying like ,'Oh he's been around for years he's not that guy anymore.' I think I would have preferred it, and this ain't shitting on Affleck, but as a guy who loved the Nolan trilogy when they announced like hey they're making Man of Steel and Chris Nolan's a producer on it, 'I was like, "Oh f--k man, so that means like his Batman and his Superman will coexist.' And then ultimately it wound up being Zack Snyder's Superman and Batman instead. I would have preferred the Christian Bale version just as a continuity freak."

According to Smith, casting Bale and continuing right where The Dark Knight Rises left off would have fixed complaints that DC was just trying to copy off Marvel by making a brand new universe. However, while it would have allowed fans to continue where they left off, everything that the DCEU would make would have to be centered around the Dark Knight trilogy. It wasn't wrong for Warner Bros. to want to build something from the ground up – the only issue is the studio getting in the way of its directors and creative team, creating messy productions from film to film.

Wonder Woman might have been a success, but the DCEU has still failed to find its footing. Hopefully, things finally turn around with Aquaman.

Aquaman premieres on December 21, 2018.

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