‘Batman v Superman’ Producer Says Batfleck Will Be in His 40s, Not His 50s

Last Monday, a photo of a gray-haired Ben Affleck on the set of Batman v Superman emerged. Then some sort of inside source talked about a batcave with a tattered Robin outfit and claimed this version of Batman has been fightin' crime for 30 years, putting him in his mid 50s. All of that jibed with what director Zach Snyder had previous said about the character—that he'd be older and more grizzled—and everyone immediately started speculating that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice would draw heavily from Frank Miller's seminal The Dark Knight Returns comic book miniseries.

Well I hate to rain on the nerd parade, but it turns out the film isn't going to follow The Dark Knight Returns quite as closely as some were starting to believe. Sure, Batman will still be older. But rather than a Batman who comes out of retirement in his 50s to fight crime again, in Batman v Superman we're getting a Batman who's about a decade younger than Miller's Dark Knight. And this comes straight from the mouth of film producer Michael Uslan in a recent interview with Asbury Park Press.

So, this [controversial superhero casting] 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.

The lesson here? Everyone just chill out with the speculation. They'll eventually finish the movie, and then we can all watch it and explain how terrible it is in 2,000-world essays, just like we always do.