Those contemporaneous Internet reactions to the casting of Ledger are great. Who wouldn't bet money that every one of those commenters changed his mind after seeing the movie? Check out the guy who said Heath was the "worst casting of all time," or the one who says he "couldn't act his way out of a paper bag." Now people are saying the same things about Affleck.

Raising a skeptical eyebrow about the casting is justified here, no doubt. This is a guy who has already botched a superhero flick and has starred in a whole heap of trite, forgettable movies. Now, if you're an actor, this is also known as "working," which can be hard to hold against someone, blah blah blah Michael Caine's argument. So, sure, I get why fans would take a "past performance is the best indicator of future outcomes" attitude. But it is not an absolute given that he will suck.

I can totally see why Affleck would jump at the chance to play Batman. Even if I'm already a millionaire, if Warners wanted to make me an even bigger millionaire for playing Batman, I'm doing it. But also, with Argo winning the Oscar, he's something of a power player—or at the very least, he's got better options now than after Gigli. Playing Batman in what could be one of the biggest grossing movies ever gives him even more clout. And what are the downsides? People saying that he sucks? That he ruined a comic book film? Been there, done that. For him, there's minimal risk, and nothing but rewards.

Kevin Smith apparently likes the casting. I'm not sure he'd feel that way if they weren't buddies and if Ben hadn't always agreed to be in Kevin's movies, but there you go.