The “compelling” character that came back to bite Ben Affleck: A near-career-ender
As controversial as Ben Affleck can be, no one can ignore his hard work, dedication and talent for acting. From his early days in Good Will Hunting and Dazed and Confused, to his star turn as Batman and the success of Gone Girl, Affleck has risen through the ranks to become one of the most famous actors of our time.
Affleck’s superhero era didn’t start with Batman, though, with 2003’s Daredevil — considered by most, including Affleck, as an abject failure — introducing him into the mask-wearing, death-defying world of the vigilante. Based on the Stan Lee Marvel comic, Daredevil sees young orphan Matt Murdock dealt a strange hand when he is doused with hazardous waste. The accident leaves Matt blind but also gives him a heightened ‘radar sense’ that allows him to ‘see’ far better than any man.
Years later Murdock has grown into a man and becomes a respected criminal attorney. But after he’s done his day job, Matt takes on a secret identity as ‘The Man Without Fear,’ Daredevil, the masked avenger that patrols the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen and New York City to combat the injustice that he cannot tackle in the courtroom.
On Daredevil, Affleck told the BBC: “I was always interested in the comic book. Certainly there were flashier superheroes out there who zipped around and fly into exploding suns. But for me, this character was what was so compelling. There was something more real about him than other comic book superheroes.”
Usually, an actor will have to explain away their decision to pick up a lucrative yet artistically shallow role with some notion of hidden virtue. However, Affleck seemed to be genuinely interested in the production and the role: “When I met [writer/director] Mark Johnson, I could immediately see he was interested in preserving the integrity of the comic book and character. One of the reasons I’d always liked Daredevil, and his alter ego Matt Murdock, was because they were flawed and vulnerable. He has no superhero powers besides his radar sense.”
When asked about a Daredevil sequel, Affleck said: “There’s a couple of storylines that I like, but people are going to have to respond to this one first. I would decide if I wanted to do a sequel based on what the story was like.” Since then, the original movie was unfortunately seen as a ‘flop’, which Affleck even commented on himself, and with Affleck and co-star Jennifer Garner starting a relationship and ultimately cutting ties, the franchise was never revived.
Although there was no sequel in the end, Daredevil took on a life of its own on Netflix in 2015, with an original series starring Drew Goddard as Matt Murdock, which seemed to go down infinitely better than the 2003 film. Although the film didn’t work out for Affleck, and for some years, he struggled to have his name be mentioned in the executive boardrooms of Hollywood high-rises.
Daredevil alongside Gigli in the same year would see the star reduced to knocking on doors trying to be heard, where only a year previously, he had been a hitmaking heartthrob. Of course, time heals all wounds, and Affleck would eventually not only reclaim a spot near the top of the table but don the ultimate superhero guise as the Caped Crusader, Batman.
