Though he may not have any actual powers, Batman is one of the toughest superheroes around. He has an inventive mind that puts an endless number of gadgets at his disposal, and there are few better tacticians found in the comic book medium. According to Matt Damon, however, the Dark Knight wouldn't actually stand a chance against CIA-trained assassin Jason Bourne.
Damon was up at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend celebrating the successful premiere of his new movie, Ridley Scott's The Martian, and it was while talking with E! that the actor revealed his thoughts on Batman vs. Bourne. Asked how the face-off would go down, he said,
Jason Bourne would kick the shit out of Batman—absolutely! Batman's gotta take on Superman first. If he could beat him then maybe he could take on Jason Bourne.
Fans will be quick to point out that there is a very explainable reason behind Matt Damon's confidence in this area. He happens to be best friends with Ben Affleck, the guy playing Batman in Zack Snyder's upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Baring that in mind, you wouldn't really expect him to kiss the boots of the Caped Crusader, would you?
In the same interview, Damon was also asked if he would have any interest in ever portraying a live-action comic book character of his own - but apparently he's not too keen on the idea. With so many actors recently taking part in the booming genre, he's just not sure that there's actually any room for him. He explained,
I think they're kind of out of superheroes. Ben's going to be like the sixth or seventh Batman, so I don't think there's really any left. So I'm good. Jason Bourne is my superhero.
Of course, this is crazy talk when you consider the fact that there are tens of thousands of characters created by Marvel and DC Comics - a total that doesn't even include heroes from Dark Horse, Image Comics, IDW, and other publishers. It's pretty obviously just an excuse on Matt Damon's part to dodge the question, but that's perfectly fine.
Just this past week we got our first look at Damon back in fighting form as Jason Bourne, as the first still from the production of the untitled Bourne 5 was released. The movie, which sees the star return to his key franchise role for the first time in eight years, has only just begun production, but hopefully we'll continue to hear updates about it in the next few months. Paul Greengrass is back in the director's chair, having co-written the script with Damon, and Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, and Ex Machina’s Alicia Vikander make up the impressive supporting cast. Look for it in theaters July 29, 2016.
