The Internet Loses Its Damn Mind Over Ben Affleck as Batman

In case you're one of the two people who still doesn't know by now, Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyder's sequel to Man of Steel, featuring the returning Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent.  And as you might imagine, people all over the interwebz went into Nerdrage Factor Twelve when the news broke late yesterday evening.

Just a couple of days earlier, I wrote about how Wes Bentley was executive producer Christopher Nolan's pick for Batman, and how Affleck was actually being courted for the role, however unlikely it was to happen given his current body of work and schedule.  Well, guess what?  It actually happened.

Twitter, due to its ability for immediate response, naturally went batshit over the news first, collectively using hashtags #Benman and the more popular #Batfleck in addition to less organized rants such as these:
 

YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME WARNER BROS. BEN AFFLECK AS BATMAN? Just stop. STOP. Stop.
— Jill Pantozzi (@JillPantozzi) August 23, 2013

INT. FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE BATMAN Clahk, I'm sad cuz my parents were wicked murdahed!
— Mike Scollins (@mikescollins) August 23, 2013

I GO TO CANADA FOR ONE FUCKING DAY AND YOU CAST BEN AFFLECK AS BATMAN?! THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS AMERICA!
— Joel Watson (@hijinksensue) August 23, 2013

What's this I hear? George Clooney is back as Batman? THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO BE AWESOME, I TELL YOU!!!
— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffCarlisle) August 23, 2013

Batman’s lost his parents and like 4 Robins. Hasn’t he suffered enough? #Batfleck
— Joel Watson (@hijinksensue) August 23, 2013

And so on.  You get the point.

Facebook soon followed, as people posting on Twitter found a comment they liked from someone else and reposted it as their own creation in a Facebook status update.  Over the next half hour, various forums, blogs and message boards picked up on the news, fueling the fire until there was a sudden ideological split between "You've got to be fucking kidding me" and "Hey, remember when everyone hated Heath Ledger as The Joker?" camps.

And to the surprise of no one, there is already a Change.org petition to Warner Brothers asking them to remove Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne.  At the time of this writing, the petition has 2,732 signatures from people with apparently nothing better to do with their lives.  The description for the petition reads "His acting skill is not even close to being believable as Bruce Wayne and he won't do the role justice. He's not built, nor is he intimidating enough for the role of Batman. His portrayal of Daredevil was atrocious and he's not remotely close to an action star. Please find someone else."

In the unlikely event the petition actually succeeds in convincing Warner Bros. to drop the guy winning Oscars and Golden Globes for The Town and Argo, Twitter is currently trending the topic #BetterBatmanThanBenAffleck to suggest Ben's replacement.

The still-untitled sequel to Man of Steel is scheduled for July 17, 2015.  Brace yourselves for the next two years...