RUMOR ALERT: This is ALL RUMOR RUMOR RUMOR! In fact, I’d probably go so far as to say it’s flat out B.S., but it’s interesting and might be fun to speculate about, so read on!
EDIT: Two “insiders” have refuted the accuracy of this list. You can read their comments at the bottom.
Who will replace Ben Affleck as Batman in the DC Comics movies? That’s one of the most burning questions in fandom. Geeks World Wide has been given a list of names that are allegedly the top contenders being eyed by Warner Brothers and ‘The Batman’ director Matt Reeves to star in the upcoming prequel. The site makes a point to say that they were unable to get confirmation… and I kinda doubt Warner Brothers would give confirmation of such a list, considering this type of casting is usually kept strictly under wraps.
But just for the heck of it, here’s who’s on the list.
Jack Reynor — Or as I call him, Irish Chris Pratt. 27-year-old, 6′ Reynor currently headlines Amazon Prime’s ‘Strange Angel’. Last year, he was seen on the big screen in the Ruth Bader Ginsberg biopic ‘On the Basis of Sex’, and the YA flop ‘Kin’. His highest-profile film role to date was as Shane Dyson (Mark Wahlberg’s daughter’s boyfriend) in ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’. Reynor was also rumored to have been one of Disney’s candidates to play young Han Solo.
He is physically imposing, but like Chris Pratt, his weight fluctuates. Nothing some extra working out can’t fix, but with his commitment to ‘Strange Angel’, does he have the time?
Alexander Ludwig — Ludwig, 26-years-old, 6’2″, has fronted the series ‘Vikings’ for six seasons. In between, he also managed to squeeze in a role on Youtube’s limited series ‘Swerve’. He also played Cato in ‘The Hunger Games’ and starred as Shane Patton in ‘Lone Survivor’. He will appear in Roland Emmerich’s star-studded war picture ‘Midway’, out this November, and he is currently filming ‘Bad Boys For Life’ with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, to be released next year.
Jack O’Connell — Does that name sound familiar? It should, as it was rumored last October that he’d met with Ben Affleck and had gotten his stamp of approval to replace him as Batman. But the very next day, Warner Brothers announced that not only was O’Connell not in the running but that the studio wasn’t eyeing ANYONE at that stage.
Yet, here we are again. Were the original rumors true? Was O’Connell being quietly scouted to potentially step in? Did Warner Brothers read those rumors and think “Hmmm, not bad…”?
O’Connell, 28-years-old, 5’8″, starred in the acclaimed Netflix miniseries ‘Godless’. He will be seen in the upcoming Edward Zwick drama ‘Trial by Fire’. He has previously appeared in Jodie Foster’s ‘Money Monster’, and Angelina Jolie’s ‘Unbroken’.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson — 29-year-old, 5’11” Taylor-Johnson has already played two superheroes, Quicksilver in Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, and Kick-Ass in ‘Kick-Ass’ and ‘Kick-Ass 2’. When you think about it, ‘Kick-Ass’ was almost like a younger, more stripped down (and brutal) version of Batman, right down to the teen sidekick. Taylor-Johnson tends to stick to indie pics, usually directed by his wife Sam, like ‘A Million Little Pieces’, but he does venture into blockbuster territory on occasion in movies like 2014’s ‘Godzilla’. He was most recently seen in Netflix’s ‘The Outlaw King’ with Chris Pine.
Nicholas Hoult — Another Marvel star, Nicholas Hoult has played Hank McCoy, The Beast, in four ‘X-Men’ movies, including the upcoming ‘Dark Phoenix’. (Five if you count his cameo in ‘Deadpool 2’) He might like playing a superhero that doesn’t require so much makeup, prosthetics or Cookie Monster fur. He most recently co-starred in the Academy Award-winner ‘The Favourite’ and will be seen in the titular role in the biopic ‘Tolkien’. Despite his rather delicate facial features, Hoult has proven his action chops in films like ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’.
EDIT: Two “insiders” have come forward to refute this list to Heroic Hollywood. As I said, it sounded like B.S. to begin with.
Insider #1: “There are no frontrunners because that list hasn’t hasn’t been formed yet.”
Insider #2: “The list seems to be a compilation of five of the most obvious candidates that anyone with access to Google and a reasonable knowledge of up and coming actors could come up with.”
No arguments here. The first “insider” stated that Matt Reeves wanted to make sure the script was perfect before meeting with actors. However, that’s the same reasoning given in October. Warner Brothers has already scheduled ‘The Batman’ to hit theaters on June 25, 2021. That should indicate that the screenplay should be ready to go, but maybe not. There is still time, as production usually begins roughly a year before a movie’s release. That means there is still more than a year to go.
These picks are fairly obvious, but that isn’t a terrible thing. Under the right circumstances, any of them could make a decent young Bruce Wayne.
What do you think? Would you like to see any of them as Batman? Or should Reeves and WB keep looking?
