“Wanted Him to Look Like a Thick MMA Heavyweight Puncher”: Ben Affleck’s Insane Bodybuilding Journey to Reach 7.7% Body Fat to Play Batman

2016 released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a promising prospect for everyone involved in the movie, be it for the actors, director, or the newly re-launched DC Universe. Henceforth, everyone associated with this movie tried their best to make it successful. And one of them was Ben Affleck, who played the role of Batman in the film. Affleck underwent an incredible transformation to fit in perfectly into the DC character. To make the movie grander, the tension between the two superheroes had to look fierce, and for that, the actors had to look massive and believably bad for each other.

While talking with Men’s Journal in 2016, Ben Affleck and his trainer Walter Norton Jr. spilled some beans from behind the scenes. They talked about Affleck’s preparation for the character. Let us find out about the hard work Ben and his trainer put behind to make him look perfect for the role of Batman.

Ben Affleck didn’t want to fail as Batman because of his negligence

For many, Batman and Superman are not just superheroes, they are emotions. And no audience will want to see it fail because of any actor, and similarly, no actor would want the same. While talking with Men’s Journal, Affleck disclosed the thoughts he had in mind before starting the movie. He said, “I knew that a big part of the audience’s expectation around the role would be how I looked physically. And that was something I had some control over. If I was going to fail in this role, I wasn’t going to let it be in a way that could have been prevented if I had worked harder.“

And the rest is history. Ben Affleck did a fabulous job with his transformation for the movie. And for the transformation, he had Walter Norton Jr. as his trainer whom he had worked in the past. They already had the chemistry and understanding, which made it slightly easier, but the hard work put behind was nothing less than brilliant. The duo worked immensely tough on Affleck’s body and focused on the transformation as preparing for bodybuilding.

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Norton did fabulous work as the trainer. To challenge Affleck to do better, he used to prepare new regimens for him every week targeting different muscle groups. But he also kept his fitness and age in mind while giving him certain targets. In the end, Affleck weighed 225 lbs with 7.7 percent body fat while shooting for the movie. However, he went to 231 lbs and cut down the extra six pounds before the shoot began. Norton revealed, “We wanted him to look like a thick MMA heavyweight puncher.” Indeed, they were successful in what they visioned Ben Affleck in the character to be.

The Affleck-Norton duo did a brilliant job in prepping for the character. Moreover, Affleck did everything in his control to justify the massive superhero he was playing. Looking at the fabulous transformation of the actor. How do you rate this incredible transformation by Ben Affleck for this character? Let us know in the comments section.

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