There are plenty of reasons why the folks at Warner Bros. thought Ben Affleck would be perfect as Bruce Wayne and Batman.
As is usually the case with high profile castings like these, the suits in charge are going to insist that the person who got the role was the first person they spoke to/auditioned for the part/walked in the door, etc. Whether or not you want to believe this is your business. However, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice producer Charles Roven insists this is the case with Ben Affleck, and then some. He had some more interesting things to say too, though.
For starters, they wanted Ben Affleck because of his maturity:
"We knew that we wanted a very mature Batman, because we wanted to juxtapose him with this very young Superman. So we wanted a guy who was tougher, rugged, who had signs of life, who had lived a hard life, and we wanted the guy to have chops, for sure. So when we went down that list, there just weren't a tremendous number of guys who could carry that."
They also wanted someone who could "tower over Superman," something which Mr. Affleck's 6'4 height allows for. The same Hollywood Reporter interview also claims that Christopher Nolan was involved in Ben Affleck's casting, which should silence at least a few of the more vocal critics out there. I mean, it's been a year, surely some folks are still stoking those fires, right?
As for how Ben Affleck's Batman will be different from earlier versions of the character, Mr. Roven says: "He's much more of a social animal in the Bruce Wayne incarnation, but he's also an extremely rough guy in the Batman incarnation — very, very, very rough." Oh, sure. Because Christian Bale was a picnic when he put on the cowl.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will be intimidating you in theaters beginning on March 25th. 2016.
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