Ben Affleck Shares Thoughts on Pre-MCU Superhero Movies and His Daredevil

And while the superhero fandom is focused on the Daredevil: Born Again series starring Charlie Cox, the “original” cinematic Daredevil, the one played by Ben Affleck, has not been forgotten.

Affleck is currently promoting his movie The Accountant 2, which also stars Jon Bernthal, who appears in the MCU (and Born Again) as The Punisher, but he took some time to talk about his divisive superhero role as well.

We know that Affleck had a tough time in superhero roles. His Daredevil was mostly criticized, and while he received praise as the DCEU’s Batman, we all know how the whole universe fell apart. Now, Affleck decided to talk about one important aspect.

As you know, earlier superhero movies were all about the tone. There was no shared narrative universe, and while some movies did get sequels, there was no shared universe with other characters. Each solo superhero had an individual story, and the others were not present.

Kevin Feige changed that with the MCU, and for better or worse, the MCU is now an example of how a large cinematic universe can be handled. Of course, the MCU is not without its issues, but at this moment, it is the best we have.

And Ben Affleck agrees. While reminiscing his Daredevil movie, Affleck said the same. “Daredevil was an interesting story. It was before Kevin Feige had stepped into the role of running Marvel,” Affleck started his answer.

He then continued talking about Feige. “He imposed a kind of clarity of tone across those movies that sort of figured out the trickiest thing, which is, ‘How do you balance a movie where you got people wearing pajamas and have superpowers, and how seriously you take it, and how much humor is in it, and how much you wink at the audience, and what does the action have to look like?’,” he said.

“It coincided with visual effects getting to a place where it could look really convincing. It made the way for great actors like him to step in and really get it done,” he finally concluded. And it’s true. Feige really did create something new and the formula proved to be a very successful one, although – like everything – it does need tweaking from time to time.

Ultimately, he also commented on his co-star’s interpretation of The Punisher. “Well, his Punisher is good,” Affleck said. “There’s a new Daredevil, I haven’t seen it yet, but I certainly love the character, I wish him the best, but I wouldn’t tangle with his Punisher.”

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