Batman fans have united around a Change.org petition against Oscar-winner Ben Affleck playing the
iconic superhero in the 2015 "Man of Steel" sequel.
The Change.org petition, started by John Roden of Cincinnation on Friday and titled "Remove Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne in the Superman/Batman movie," said that fans didn't think Affleck was superhero material.
"His acting skill is not even close to being believable as Bruce Wayne and he won't do the role justice," stated the petition which had nearly 70,000 signees as of Monday. "He's not intimidating enough for the role of Batman. Batman is someone that strikes fear in the hearts of men. His portrayal of Daredevil was atrocious and he's not remotely close to an action star or a superhero."
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The petition softened a little with this later addition: "I would like to add that this petition was not meant in any way to harm Ben Affleck or his career. I respect Affleck's work. I just feel he is inappropriate for the role."
WWJ-TV in Detroit reported that another petition was started on the WhiteHouse.gov website "We the People," asking the Obama administration to "denounce the selection Ben Affleck" as Batman, but it was taken down for violation of user terms.
The television station reported that before it was taken down, the White House petition stated that "there are more serious matters that need to be addressed in our country but fans/citizens are outraged at the selection and we want to send a message to Warner Brothers, DC Comics, and Zack Snyder using an outlet that could garner the appropriate media attention to do so."
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The Hollywood Reporter reported Friday that more than 96,000 messages were sent on Twitter.com in the first hour after the casting announcement was made, and in those 71 percent of that talk was negative, according to social media analytics firm Fizziology. Fifteen percent of the tweets were positive and 14 percent were deemed mixed reaction.
About 10 percent of fans with long memories negatively mentioned Affleck's performance in the 2004 film "Daredevil" in which he played the Marvel Comic's superhero of the same name.
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