If you’re one of the people signing petitions and moaning about Ben Affleck being Batman – probably because something’s gone wrong in real life and you’re displacing your anger onto a man you’ve never met for his part in a franchise you’ve never had any creative input in – then shut the hell up, because Affleck says he can deal with it.

Ben AffleckAffleck proudly weilds his Oscar for Argo.

The Argo actor explained everything on his Late Night with Jimmy Fallon appearance. “The people from the studio were like ‘We’re thrilled… and listen we want to talk to you because people go through this process and it can be a little trying’,” he recalled. “They said, ‘We want to show you some of the reactions that past cast members have got on the internet’. (Metro)

No doubt they showed him some of the vitriol attached to Heath Ledger's appointment as the Joker – fans didn’t like the idea, but he turned in an iconic performance as the crazed evil-genius, making The Dark Knight one of the greatest action films ever made.

Still, donning that Batsuit and accepting the keys to the Batmobile is a big responsibility. Not in terms of saving the world – remember, it’s not real – but for the legions of fans who place an inordinate amount of stock in their favourite superheroes.

Ben Affleck kidAffleck tries to explain to his kid that he's Batman, and he'll be away working for a while.

“I’m a big boy. If I can handle an Emmy snub, I can handle anything,” the 41-year-old added. “I handle s**t, you know what I mean – I’m very tough. So I saw the announcement, I look at the first cooment and it’s like, ‘Ben Affleck is going to be Batman’ and the first one goes, ‘Noooooooo!”

Hear that haters? “Big Boy.”