Will he or won’t he? Conflicting rumors are flying as to whether or not Armie Hammer is in final negotiations to play Batman in Matt Reeves‘ ‘The Batman’. Revenge of the Fans broke the rumor that he was, and that while they had heard this news on Friday, they had been asked not to release this information until today. Umberto Gonzales of Heroic Hollywood, however, states that he has checked with the studio and Hammer’s agents and was informed that this was not true.
Armie Hammer. Batman. Not true.
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) February 19, 2019
Both sources have broken some actual major scoops in the past. Both have also been proven 100% wrong in other cases. So make of that what you will.
Gonzales makes a valid point that I was wondering about myself. Hammer is 32. ‘The Batman’ is reportedly about a younger Bruce Wayne at the start of his career. However, Christian Bale was about the same age when he made ‘Batman Begins’ which… was about a younger Bruce Wayne at the start of his career. But Gonzales says that ‘The Batman’ will feature an even younger Batman.
Not that it’s terribly relevant, but David Mazouz is 17 and is reportedly about to become Batman on ‘Gotham’, but that show is… something else.
What would have been cool about Hammer playing Batman, of course, is that he was already cast to play him in George Miller’s ‘Justice League: Mortal’, a film that was derailed by a Hollywood writers strike that went into effect just before filming was to have begun. For reasons unknown, after the strike was resolved, Warner Brothers chose to scrap ‘Justice League: Mortal’ and decided to make ‘Green Lantern’ instead.
In December, Hammer discussed his plans for playing the Dark Knight in Miller’s film:
“I wanted this Batman character to be so dark. I was like look, no one – and this was George’s idea as well, this was really in the script – but no one ever really shows how truly psychotic this man has to be. Like this is a guy who chooses to put on a costume, in all black, and sneak around at night and beat the s*** out of people.
“So in our story, the Batman was the true personification of this guy. Bruce Wayne was the mask that you never really see. I’m probably not supposed to be talking about this, but they took the job away so whatever! So even in times when he would be sitting around, like let’s say he had his batsuit off and all that, he would be sitting down with the thing, looking at the thing with the cowl on, because that’s where he felt the most comfortable in his own weird, twisted way. He was a neurotic, like borderline schizophrenic dude who didn’t trust a single person, including anyone in the Justice League, and had all the dirt on every single one of them, and was ready to take all of them down at the snap of a finger.”
To be honest, that depiction doesn’t sound great to me. Batman is the one DC character that should be dark, but I’m tired of stuff being THAT dark. Even DC makes fun of how grimdark their stuff has gotten over the years, such as in last year’s ‘Teen Titans GO! to the Movies‘.
So which story do you believe? Is Armie Hammer a great choice to play Batman? Or would you rather see someone else in the role?
