The time Kevin Smith wanted a Superman movie with Ben Affleck

Thanks to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe, superhero movies are the biggest, most lucrative blockbusters in the world and show no signs of slowing down. But before those mega-franchises blessed the box office with billions of dollars, there were countless failed attempts at bringing superheroes to the screen. One example is Kevin Smith’s ambitious vision to cast Ben Affleck as Superman, which failed to get off the ground due to creative differences.

Speaking as a guest on Yahoo’s “The Never-Weres” series, Smith remembered his failed attempt at turning Ben Affleck into Clark Kent. Titled “Superman Lives,” the movie would’ve been based on The Death of Superman comic series.

It’s no surprise why Smith wanted the 6’4″ Ben Affleck in the leadr role; he certainly looks the part. “He’s a fucking giant, like he’s built like a superhero, built like a giant action figure, particularly with the height,” Smith said. “And then he puts on the muscles there too.” According to Smith, his superhero flick would’ve also featured Michael Rooker as villain Lex Luthor. “In my head and heart, it was always Ben and Michael Rooker.”

Studio execs wants Sean Penn to play Superman

That all sounds well and good, but the cracks in the project started to emerge when producer Jon Peters had other ideas about casting. “I was writing it for Affleck,” Smith said. “Ben was heating up. Like he was there. I think he’d been hired for Armageddon.”

Peters thought Sean Penn was a far superior choice, citing his performance in Dead Man Walking. “[Jon Peters] goes, ‘Look in [Penn’s] eyes in that movie, he’s [got] haunted eyes, the eyes of a killer,’” Smith said. “And I was like, ‘Dude, it’s Superman. You know, that’s not how most people think of Superman’…But he wanted to reinvent it.”

Apparently, Peters wanted to take things down a darker route. “He wanted something gritty, graphic and grownup.” Funnily enough, Affleck later played Batman opposite Henry Cavill’s Superman in Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which got gritty indeed.

Batman isn’t the only hero Affleck has played. Over at Marvel, he played Matt Murdock in 2003’s Daredevil.

And Affleck did go on to play Superman…kind of. He played actor George Reeves in 2003’s Hollywoodland, Reeves being the actor who played Superman on TV in the 1950s. At least we’ll still see Affleck don the Batsuit once more in The Flash alongside the returning Michael Keaton, which comes out on November 4.

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