I'm not sure Batman can carry a solo film.

That surprises me. I hadn't heard that, and I thought maybe Batman vs. Superman was a farewell arc for Batman.

...unless he's played by Christian Bale and directed by Christopher Nolan?

Sarcasm?

No, I hadn't been paying attention. I expected them to stop Batman movies for a while, and reboot a few years down the line with a new actor. (And Affleck would just be an aging version to get this started).

I didn't realize we'd get solo movies with him, right away.

That same logic applies to the Spider-Man movies. You'd have thought Sony would have waited a while considering how well Tobey Maguire played Spider-Man, but Sony didn't want to wait to milk their cash cow, and the same applies to Warner Brothers.

Besides, it wouldn't surprise me if Ben Affleck's agent insisted on a pay-or-play deal for a solo Batman movie for him to appear in Batman vs. Superman.

(Speaking of "pay-or-play", Mark Ruffalo will still get paid for those Hulk movies even if they are never shot, right?)

There were never Hulk movies scheduled for Ruffalo, only guaranteed appearances in x number of films.

As much as I hated Man of Steel and as awful as I think BvS is going to be, this news actually intrigues and somewhat excites me. I still haven't nailed down my exact feelings on Affleck being cast in the part, but I've really enjoyed the films he's directed and think he has the chops for this.

Geoff Johns and Batman are two (frequently) great things that thus far have not been great together to my mind, however....

Ugh, Geoff Johns is horrible.

Johns has done his fair share of crap, especially when he's writing event comics like Infinite Crisis or Forever Evil, and like many I don't like the gore and excessive violence he too often puts in his books. But I think he's worthy of his A-list status as a writer....I've loved his work on Justice Society, Green Lantern, Flash, pre-New 52 Superman (haven't read the Romita stuff), Shazam, and Aquaman. I even liked Flashpoint and think he's finally found his way on Justice League now.

But nothing he's ever done with Batman gives me hope there.

There are times when Johns is the best writer in the business and times when he is the worst. I don't know the extent of his involvement with the films and TV projects, but Green Lantern tanked with his help and Arrow / Flash have flourished with his help.

I don't see him as the kiss of death. I see him as a wild card.

I've never read anything that suggests he was ever even in the running for best writer in the business.

Johns' Aquaman is well-written "Bronze Age" comics, probably the best straight-up superhero book published in the past few years. I haven't finished reading all of his Justice Society, but it is very good and from what I can tell, it was heads above DC's Justice League at the time.

His Green Lantern run was great about 2/3 of the way through. After that he just seemed to beat a dead horse with the various color corps, yet it was still better than most everything else published by Marvel and DC at the time.

His Flash? No, thank you. I hate everything about the "speed force" and he seemed to be stuck on that concept as he was with the rainbow rings. I also think that three Flashes - Barry Allen, Wally West & Prof. Zoom - are enough. Fortunately this has been fixed in the New 52 and the concept has been kept to a minimum on the TV show.

I think that his movie Batman will pull back from the depressing tone of Rises and be more like the O'Neill Batman that I prefer. Maybe this new armor-less Bats will be less gadgety as well.

There was a period of time where he was considered the best at DC. JSA, Flash, and everything he was doing before Infinite Crisis, or whatever Crisis had all the dismemberment.

He fixed the Paralax/Green Lantern fiasco.

He fixed the problem of Hawkman and Hawkwoman being both aliens and the reincarnation of ancient Egyptions.

There was a time when people (including myself) were saying, "They should give him the entire DCU to fix.". Then they gave him the reins and he started ripping off arms.

How many arms did Johns' rip off? I remember the horrible one with Superboy Prime.

This would be fantastic, although I liked Rises.

Johns also wrote some of the best received episodes of Smallville, like the Legion of Super-Heroes episode.

I may be wrong, but I think he was behind the gruesome death of Osiris in 52.

Yeah, but I care about good stories, not people "fixing" continuity.

They were also entertaining stories. If you haven't read his run on JSA you really should.

There was a decapitation too.