Ben Affleck Had A More Enthusiastic Response To The Snyder Cut News For Kevin Smith

As news spread of HBO Max and Zack Snyder joining forces to finally “Release the Snyder Cut” after a long and brutal social media campaign to make the director’s original version of Justice League a reality, one voice was notably absent from the fanfare: Batman himself, Ben Affleck. In fact, it took Affleck almost 24 hours before acknowledging the groundbreaking news on Twitter, and well, his reaction wasn’t exactly full of pep.

— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) May 21, 2020

Easy there, Ben. Don’t get carried away.

It seems like Affleck was simply saving the good stuff, however, for his old pal Kevin Smith. The actor recorded a special Instagram video just for Smith’s Fatman Beyond podcast where he gave a shout out to all of the fans who aggressively lobbied to make Snyder’s original vision come to life. Via Collider:

“I’m very excited that Zack’s getting a chance to finally see his vision realized. I think it’s a great thing. I’m really excited for the fans to get to see it. And I want to say thank you to the fans because it was their enthusiasm and their passion that made it happen. Without fan support I don’t think it ever would have happened. I love Zack and I love his version of the movie and I look forward to everyone getting a chance to see it.”

You can watch Affleck’s message to fans below:

In Affleck’s defense, the Snyder Cut news has to be complicated for the former Batman. While promoting The Way Back earlier in the year, the actor spoke candidly about his decision to leave the iconic superhero role, and how the back-to-back productions for Batman V Superman and Justice League took a toll on his marriage and exacerbated his struggles with alcoholism. With the Snyder Cut requiring voiceover work from Affleck, and talk of a sequel already in the mix, it’s certainly understandable that he’d have a reserved reaction to this surprising development.