AceShowbiz - Ben Affleck gave up Batman's cape and cowl because he "couldn't crack" the movie he wanted to make about the character.

The "Argo" star took over from Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader and played him in 2016 movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", "Suicide Squad" and "Justice League" but Warner Bros. bosses confirmed he would not be taking on the role of Bruce Wayne again last month (January 2019).

He was originally due to direct, co-write, and star in his own "Batman" movie but has now confessed he left the project as he felt he would struggle to do the iconic comic book character justice.

"I tried to direct a version of ('Batman'), (I) worked with a really good screenwriter, but kinda just couldn't come up with a version," Ben told U.S. late night host Jimmy Kimmel. "Couldn't crack it."

The 46-year-old was thought to be co-writing the movie, provisionally titled "The Batman", with "Cloverfield" filmmaker Matt Reeves, who is still involved with the project. The actor wished Matt well on Twitter following his announced departure and again offered his good wishes when speaking to Jimmy.

"I thought it was time for someone else to take a shot at it," he explained. "And they've got some really good people."

To mark the end of the star's time as the Dark Knight, the chat show host had his assistant Guillermo Rodriguez dress as Batman's sidekick Robin and officially retire Ben's Batsuit, which bore the legend 'Batfleck' and the number 12 (in honour of American football star Tom Brady) on the back, by hoisting it into his studio rafters.

In exchange it was swapped with the spangly jockstrap the pair's pal Matt Damon wore as Liberace's lover in the biopic "Behind the Candelabra".

After being presented with the undergarment the actor gave it a sniff, saying it "still has that Damon musk" before confirming to the world he had quit by announcing, "I'm not Batman."