The Accountant Movies Are The Closest We'll Get To Ben Affleck's Solo Batman

"The Accountant 2" has been filed into movie theaters across the U.S. The movie reunites director Gavin O'Connor and Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff, a savant accountant and vigilante, but many (including /Film) have called this sequel an improvement over the 2016 original.

Ah, 2016. That was a lynchpin year for Ben Affleck's career, but not in a great way. He starred in three movies, none of them hits either critically or commercially. After his early 2000s rough patch, Affleck had been back on the upswing since 2006's "Hollywoodland." For the next ten years, he proved himself as a director (first with 2007's "Gone Baby Gone") and as an actor worthy of respect. When he was cast as Batman in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," it seemed like Affleck's movie star redemption was complete. Sure, Bat-fans had their doubts at first, but he was joining the superhero boom as one of the world's biggest superheroes. 

When "Batman v Superman" came out, Affleck's performance was praised, but the movie wasn't. His passion project, adapting Dennis Lehane's gangster novel "Live By Night," also flopped that year. Plans for a solo Batman movie, starring and directed by Affleck, gradually fell apart and he left the role. We got Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson's "The Batman" as a result, so it wasn't the worst trade ever. But still, it's hard not to be a bit wistful about Affleck's Batman tenure. He showed so much promise in the part but was let down by the movies around him and Warner Bros.' hyper-reactionary handling of its DC films. Affleck's pitch, featuring Batman fighting a war against a vengeance-driven Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello), could have really been something.

But while Ben Affleck's solo Batman is forever a "what could have been," "The Accountant" films offer a real glimpse at what it could have been like.

Like Bruce Wayne, Christian Wolff is a smart and wealthy vigilante with superb fighting skills. He's an orphan, with a dead father and mother who walked out on him. He spent his youth cultivating fighting and analytic skills, and applies them to his personal brand of justice (laundering criminals' money and then flipping on them).

Now, of course, it's not a one-to-one comparison. For starters, the Accountant doesn't dress like a bat. Wolff also uses guns (his mobile home has a whole armory), which Batman never does. Wolff's autism is a defining part of his character (and an area where "The Accountant 2" improves), and puts him at a disadvantage in social situations. Batman is bad at maintaining relationships because he's so mission-focused, but that's from lack of effort, not skill. When he wants to, Batman can turn up the charm, and he's an expert in reading people.

So yeah, there are plenty of surface-level differences between Batman and the Accountant, but Affleck playing both links the characters. Like Batman, the Accountant also has a support network. J.K. Simmons played Commissioner Jim Gordon opposite Affleck's Batman in "Justice League," and "The Accountant" was basically Simmons' debut as Gordon; he plays Raymond King, Wolff's contact at the Treasury department. Like Gordon, King doesn't really know who the Accountant is, but he still trusts him. The Accountant has an "in-the-know" tech support partner too: Justine (Alison Wright/Allison Robertson), an autistic computer savant. She's the Accountant's Alfred, or alternatively, his Oracle/Barbara Gordon.

"The Accountant" movies also understand, better than most Batman movies do, that a superhero needs a sidekick. For the Accountant, that's his mercenary brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), an especially lethal take on Robin. In "The Accountant 2," Christian is also driven to rescue kidnapped boy Alberto (Yael Ocasio), who it turns out has the same condition as him. Batman took Robin in because he understood his pain as an orphan, and wanted to guide him. The ending of "The Accountant 2" suggests Chris could mentor Alberto that same way.

Affleck has spoken about his regrets from how his Batman run turned out, and "The Accountant" films only prove we missed out by him not keeping the cowl on for longer.

"The Accountant 2" is playing in theater.