Right when everything appeared to be going right in the superhero universe Warner Bros announces that Ben Affleck is the new Batman. No, I am not joking

Wacko Photographer and Medill DC/ Flickr

As a lifelong superhero junkie I too feel like I died a little bit inside when I heard the news.
It would be nice to think this is a joke, but I have never know Variety to have that kind of sense of humor. The popular industry magazine made the announcement that the star of such cinematic classics as Jersey Girl, Bounce, Extract, Reindeer Games and–who can ever forget–Gigli is going to be playing the coolest superhero ever created.
Yes, Ben Affleck will be taking over the cowl from Christian Bale in the next installment of the Batman series, the Batman-Superman adventure due out on July 17, 2015.
What is almost as susprising as the announcement is what Warner Bros president Greg Silverman said about Affleck:
“We knew we needed an extraordinary actor to take on one of DC Comics’ most endearingly popular Super Heroes, and Ben Affleck certainly fits that bill, and then some.”
Really? I mean–did he ask anyone?
Assuming we don’t learn soon that this really is just an elaborate prank Affleck will become the eighth actor to play Batman. To be fair to Affleck, he does have some good movies under his belt–Good Will Hunting, Dogma, and The Town to name a few. So maybe he will not suck at it.
Heck, he can’t be worse than George Clooney was.
Can he?