Say hello to the new Batman – Ben Affleck!

Wow, the director of Argo is going to play Batman.

I would not have predicted that but good for him!

Warner Bros. announced this evening that the 41-year-old Ben Affleck will star in a film bringing Batman and Superman together. Henry Cavill will reprise his role as Superman from this summer’s Man of Steel.

Affleck has played a superhero before in Daredevil and starred in such films as The Sum of All Fears, Pearl Harbor and The Town which he also directed.

Batman was most recently played by Christian Bale in a string of successful films. In an earlier incarnation of the franchise, the role was played by Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney.

Production on the as-yet-untitled film is expected to begin in 2014 for release July 17, 2015.

The casting comes during Affleck’s golden year as the director and star of Academy Award best picture winner Argo. Although Affleck was shockingly not nominated for best director, he won an Oscar as one of the film’s directors as well as the DGA and Golden Globe awards for his directing.

He had previously won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay for Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon.