November 12th, 2013, Emilene Parry
When it was announced that Ben Affleck had been chosen to take the role of Batman in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel, there was some debate in the media about his fit to the role. However, we found that most Lab participants approve of Ben Affleck portraying Batman.
“He can bring a different aspect of the character to the table and also help to launch Justice League movie. He has been doing a great job lately as evident by The Town and Argo” Anon
“He has the build and the looks to be a Batman” Achraf, Morocco
“His acting skills are magnificent!” Abed, Algeria
“He had a similar role as daredevil; I think he could do the job” Anon
Interestingly, when asked who their favourite previous Batman actor was, Christian Bale and George Clooney came out as favourites.
Despite the majority supporting Ben Affleck playing Batman, there was some who disapproved. Some reasons given by participants included:
“He cannot play a brooding hero. I think you need another actor to play that role effectively and compete for Man of Steel's onscreen presence and charm” Anon
“He does not have the gravitas or style to play Batman.....Batman needs to be a troubled and deep searching character and I am pretty sure that he cannot perform in this way” Doug, Dubai
“There are others who have more potential to shine by being the cape crusader. Ben Affleck has now become too common” Macario, Saudi Arabia
The upcoming movie will include some rivalry between Batman and Superman. Given this, we set out to see who respondents felt would win in a fight. In a fight between Batman and Superman, the majority of Lab participants felt that Superman would win.
Participants who felt that Superman would win:
“Batman is a billionaire, intelligent and a good fighter having lots of gadgets to help him in his mission, on the other hand superman is an alien with huge supernatural power, for example lifting 100,000,000,000 Tonnes without any effort” Achraf, Morocco
“Because Superman has superhuman powers, but Batman is just an ordinary man who gave himself to do good” Mokhtaria, Algeria
“Batman is an artificial hero, while superman is a natural super hero” H.Yassin
“Superman has superpower beyond human” Anon
“I suppose because Superman has his power within him and Batman has gadgets of all sorts” Anon
Participants who felt that Batman would win:
“Batman is a real tactician. Who plans way ahead before entering a situation and he always has contingencies for any/most outcomes” Anon
“Superman is always a bit 'too good' to be believed - Batman sees that the line between good and evil has to be crossed in some circumstances” Doug, Dubai
“Superman relies too much on his pure strength and agility which is known to Batman making Superman really predictable. And given the fact that Batman is really resourceful and intelligent I assume that he will manage to prepare something to face this strength” Omar, Egypt
However, when asked who out of the two they would prefer to be there is not much difference.
Participants who would prefer to be Superman:
“He can do everything and has awesome superpower” Anon
“He is very strong” Anon
“Because of course he can fly” Tariq, UAE
“Because he can fly, he has x-ray vision and super strength” Jozhelle
Participants who would prefer to be Batman:
“Because he has powers, a cool car and a butler” Anon
“Better outfit....better gadgets...better personal life when not batman....and everyone looks good in black” Doug, Dubai
“I love watching Batman since I was very young” Meedo,KSA
“Because he doesn’t have powers as superman but he does good things anyway” Faiza, Algeria
“More realistic” H.Yassin
Given a choice to attain any superpower, telepathy (ability to read minds), omnilinguilism (ability to understand any form of language), time travel and mind control were amongst the most popular. Some reasons for the choices participants made include:
To be able to understand any form of language (Omnilinguilism)
“It would help with my work but not add problems to my lifestyle” Anon
Time travel
“To prevent World War 1 & 2” Abed, Algeria
“To change some things in my past” Anon
Teleport
“Teleport to work most of the time :-D” Achraf, Morocco
Mind control
“To be more powerful and control my own mind” Mokhtaria, Algeria
Overall participants were optimistic about Ben Affleck's ability to portray Batman; however they will now have to wait until 2015 to see the movie!