Ben Affleck’s debut as Batman in 2016's Batman began as more of a gun-wielding pulp figure, he soon established an implicit set of rules that bolstered an untarnished morality by which the character came to be defined, rules that were rarely broken either on page or screen until director Zack Snyder’s reboot in 2016. Though fighting crime carries with it the potential for collateral damage, Affleck’s Batman s for a number of purposeful, direct kills (many involving guns) in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Although Batman began as a figure more than willing to maim and kill his foes with all matter of weapons, the beloved crime fighter later assumed an unblemished morality defined by strict adherence to a set of rules reaffirmed in Christopher Nolan’s Man of Steel similarly saw the rarely lethal character kill an enemy. When these two heroes meet for the first time in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), it's Batman who steals the show.
It’s debatable if Batman’s gun-toting Knightmare sequence, though possibly a vision of the future, is not counted since it hasn’t yet happened; however, it does provide an interesting insight into Snyder’s approach for the character.
Zack Snyder’s decision to depict Batman as a killer left many fans perplexed, especially after the backlash from Superman’s culpability in the death and destruction during Man of Steel. All of Batman’s victims in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice are dangerous criminals in the act of threatening his life or the lives of others, but there have always been reasons for Batman to kill; he just typically doesn’t. So what’s changed in Ben Affleck’s Batman? For one, this version sees a grizzled, older character who, according to Snyder, “bears the scars of a seasoned crime fighter.” It’s safe to assume this includes mental scars as well, which apparently reveal themselves after Bruce Wayne witnesses the destructive nature of Superman. Snyder has also cited the deconstructive nature of works like Watchmen, the movie adaption of which he directs, as a precursor to the moral ambiguity and destructive consequences of the DCEU’s superheroes.
Zack Snyder’s grittier portrayal of Ben Affleck as Batman results in the character racking up roughly 10 kills in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The controversial turn for the typically moral hero could be seen as a return to the comic character from Batman #1, “The Giants of Hugo Strange” (1940). Nose-diving down in his Batplane toward a fleeing truck of henchmen, Batman takes aim through his machine gun sights and utters the line, “Much as I hate to take human life, I’m afraid this time it’s necessary!” Affleck’s Batman found it necessary to kill as well…ten times.
