One thing goes with the territory when it comes to comic book movies...you're going to hear from the fans. Big time.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ben Affleck, who is playing the Caped Crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, tells the magazine that he knew audiences would have something to say about his casting, and he was just fine with that.

[related]"Before I took the role," Affleck said, "Warner Bros. gave me a bunch of past reactions to casting and said, 'Are you sure you want to get into this? This is part and parcel of these movies now. There’s a lot of active fans with a lot of opinions.' To me, having been through a certain amount of that, it doesn’t really... Everyone’s entitled to their opinion."

The actor continued, saying that it’s “great that people care that much,” no doubt an understatement when it comes to his famous character. Affleck is contending against previous fan-favourite representations of Batman by Michael Keaton, and most recently Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s much-heralded Dark Knighttrilogy.

Affleck also touched on his significant training for the part, saying: “I can tell you that every time I do a role, it’s the responsibility of an actor to get their physical self as close to the role as possible. And Batman’s obviously got a set of expectations that are tough. So I spent a lot of time working out. And it’s a far cry from Gone Girlwhere my character is described as ‘puffy and hungover.’”

“I want you to know I worked equally hard at both!” Affleck laughed.