Ben Affleck Casting Sets Twitter Ablaze

The news that Ben Affleckhas been cast by Warner Brothers as the next Batman has received a less-than-enthusiastic reaction from fans.

The hashtag #BetterBatmanThanBenAffleck quickly began trending worldwide after the announcement was made by the movie studio, was still trending at the time of writing.

Many contributors - including Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls - suggested themselves, while other names mentioned included Kanye West, Postman Pat, Liam Payne from 1D, Del Boy Trotter, Nicolas Cage and a plethora of cats with pointy ears.

Comedy Central tweeted: "Casting Ben Affleck as Batman sounds like something The Joker would do to create a distraction at the nerd bank."

A spoof Ben Affleck Batman account popped up, with the opening gambits: "You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me. Set the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen.

"I am proud to serve the people of Gotham. And the people are proud to have me."

There were also numerous calls for Matt Damon to be cast as the superhero's youthful sidekick Robin.

Comic Andy Levy tweeted: "can't believe they cast a rich white guy to play batman"