Ben Affleck has revealed he couldn’t quite believe it when he found out he’d landed the role of iconic superhero Batman in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The actor will play an ageing caped crusader opposite Henry Cavill’s Superman in the Warner Bros flick, which hits cinemas in March 2016.

Ben AffleckAffleck will play the caped crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly magazine, Affleck said he reacted with disbelief when he found out he’d landed the role. “My first reaction was, ‘Are you sure?’ ” Affleck said. “At the time I was 40, 41, and had just finished Argo, and I felt like ‘This seems like a strange way to get to Batman.’ But Zack convinced me.”

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But Affleck’s age is an important part of this new chapter of Batman’s story, as the film plays up how Bruce Wayne may be getting older but he's not stopping his playboy ways. “He really keeps up the image of the playboy, actively,” Affleck revealed. “So you have more of a dichotomy which I thought was really fun, and a little sad, like the ageing playboy.”

The actor also added that he was encouraged to take the role because it had been a while since he’d been a part of such a big production and he wanted to see how it all worked behind the scenes. “I thought if I was going to direct a movie like this, which I would like to do at some point, I need to have something of a refresher course of how these movies are done,” Affleck added.

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Earlier this week Affleck hit the headlines when he and wife Jennifer Garner announced their shocking split after 10 years of marriage. ”After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce," the couple said in a joint statement on June 30. ”We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting our children, whose privacy we ask to be respected during this difficult time."