Movie cereal.

Do you think that when Ben Affleck decided to become an actor, he was hoping to wind up on a cereal box? Probably not.

But here he is, all the same.

That's actually the back of the box. Here's the front. 

It's a General Mills cereal, and I guess it's supposed to be Batman Cereal, but as you notice, there is no actual name on the box. Just a shot of the brawny Bat chest. There's also going to be a Superman cereal, but I haven't seen that one in stores yet. The Batman cereal is strawberry/chocolate; the Superman cereal is said to be caramel crunch. 

I was surprised to see Bat Cereal in the store this early, since the Superman vs. Batman movie doesn't come out until March 25. Then again, I reviewed Star Wars cereal back in July, five months before that new picture opened. Why wait? 

Well, let's cut to the superpowered chase: What does it taste like? 

You get the advertised flavors, chocolate and strawberry, off those little corn/oat bats. There is a dusting of chocolatey something on the outside that gives it a slightly different consistency than most kid cereals. While the strawberry has a mild form of that phony strawberry candy taste, it's not actually artificial. General Mills has made a big deal out of removing artificial colors and flavors from its cereals, including this one. And yet there's nothing on the ingredients list to indicate where the strawberry flavor comes from (like, say, "strawberries").

That Batman---what a man of mystery.

Thinking of bats and General Mills cereals made me wonder if this was just re-purposed Count Chocula with strawberry flavor and without the marshmallows, but it's a different texture and shape from the breakfast of the cheerful undead.

So I give the thumbs-up to General Mills for producing an original and tasty movie tie-in product. We should hope the movie has this much taste and original thought.