Superhero movies weren’t always so super. Ben Affleck knows that from experience, having played Daredevil on the big screen back in 2003, opposite his now-estranged-wife Jennifer Garner. Speaking about the film in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly — which debuted just two days after he and Garner announced their decision to divorce — the Gone Girl actor reflected on his crime-fighting past, present, and future.

“Daredevil didn’t work, at all,” Affleck, 42, told the mag of the movie, which starred the Argo director in the title role, and Garner, 43, as his ninja assassin love interest Elektra. (The Draft Day actress also reprised the role in a 2005 spinoff.) “If I wanted to go viral, I would be less polite,” he said.

Affleck blames it on the circumstances of the times. “That was before people realized you could make these movies and make them well,” he added. “There was a cynical sense of ‘Put a red leather outfit on a guy, have him run around, hunt some bad guys, and cash the check.'”

That’s no longer the case. Thanks in part to Christopher Nolan‘s Batman movies and Marvel’s Avengers blockbusters, there’s a different mentality now. “They really learned how to make this stuff work,” Affleck told EW. “Good is the new bad.” 

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He hopes his newest endeavor — the much-hyped Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — will continue the tradition of quality superhero movies, and honor the long history of Batmans before him. 

“Batman is basically the American version of Hamlet. We accept that he’s played by actors with different interpretations,” the actor told EW of the Dark Knight, who’s been brought to life by stars including Christian Bale, Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Adam West, and Val Kilmer.

His version of the character, he added, is a little older, a little more worn down. “He’s at the end of his run and maybe the end of his life,” Affleck explained. “There’s this sort of world-weariness to it.”

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