Warner Bros managed to send millions of nerds into a rage yesterday by announcing that Ben Affleck would be donning the cape and cowl as Batman in the upcoming sequel to this summer’s Man of Steel.  Affleck replaces Christian Bale, who had bowed out after the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Bat-trilogy last summer, and will appear in the Superman flick as Warner Bros and DC tries to recreate the magic Marvel found with last year’s Avengers.

The outrage seemingly stems from the fact that Affleck, star of stellar films as Daredevil and Gigli, doesn’t have the chops to play Batman.  Of course, fans (or their fathers and older brothers) said the same thing about Michael Keaton when he was cast as the Dark Knight back in the late 1980s.  Not to mention the criticism that fell upon Nolan when it was announced that Heath Ledger would be playing the Joker in his middle film.  The same fans that decried those casting decisions lauded both actors once the films were actually made.

Will Affleck make a good Batman?  Time will tell, but given his recent output, it doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility.  In fact, the question might even be why would he take the role, after focusing on smaller, more serious roles over the last few years.

Even if it doesn’t work, Warner Bros will have the building blocks in place for their long awaited Justice League film and they have shown that they have no problem switching out the actor underneath the cowl if things aren’t working out.  Hey, maybe Val Kilmer is available.