The Batman: Jake Gyllenhaal Previously Teased How He Would Play The Dark Knight

Jake Gyllenhaal as the ninth incarnation of Gotham’s Dark Knight?

That’s the rumor currently doing the rounds online, after one report claimed Matt Reeves, writer-director on The Batman, has hand-picked Gyllenhaal to be his Caped Crusader, and the one who would eventually succeed Ben Affleck in the title role.

Keep in mind that many of DC’s bigwigs have since voiced their support of Affleck’s costumed crusader on the belief that he will indeed reprise the role in time for The Batman in 2018, despite all of those conflicting reports swirling online. But for the sake of perspective, ComicBook.com has dug up an old interview of Jake Gyllenhaal on The Howard Stern Show (see below), in which the actor discussed what it would be like to play Bruce Wayne’s masked alter-ego.

Jake Gyllenhaal also has a long track record of just missing out on numerous, high-profile superhero roles (see: Batman, Spider-Man), so his involvement in The Batman isn’t exactly outside the realm of possibility. It would send shockwaves through the entire DC Extended Universe though, that’s for sure.

Here’s another interview, this time with The Daily Beast, in which the actor weighed in on a potential superhero gig:

You can’t ask an actor in Hollywood who hasn’t auditioned or been in the running for one of those roles. It’s almost a rite of passage. But you pay for everything you do—and don’t do. For me, I’ve always wanted to have the opportunity to play a number of different roles, and I knew it wasn’t necessarily the role, but how you played them. There’s all this strategizing people do where they think, ‘Oh, if I do this then I can do that.’ I think I’ve come to a point where your intention is everything. Your intention is very clear and people can feel your intention, so as long as you’re true to yourself, then people will respond to that.

The Batman is said to be targeting a production start in the summer of 2018, by which time we’ll surely have a definitive answer to this whole Batfleck saga. Closer to home, Justice League is just now beginning to make its way into theaters, and word is Warner’s tentpole needs to clear $600 million in ticket sales alone if it’s to turn a profit.