Batman is dead. Long live Batman!
For a very long time, we’ve been to-ing and fro-ing on whether Ben Affleck would reprise the role for Matt Reeves’ The Batman. The other night though, the actor himself settled the matter, tacitly confessing that he wasn’t returning for another outing by tweeting that he was looking forward to seeing the film upon its release.
But now that one question’s been settled, another bigger one arises: who’s our next Batman? That remains to be seen, of course, but Irish bookmakers BoyleSports have odds on who’ll be next in the cape and cowl, and you can check them out below:
7/2 Armie Hammer
11/2 Jake Gyllenhaal
13/2 Jon Hamm
8/1 Michael B. Jordan
8/1 Ben Barnes
9/1 John Krasinski
10/1 Jamie Dornan
16/1 Josh Brolin
16/1 Matthew Goode
16/1 Chris Pratt
16/1 Michael Fassbender
16/1 Chris Pine
18/1 Ryan Gosling
33/1 Leonardo DiCaprio
33/1 Idris Elba
50/1 Keanu Reeves
50/1 Daniel Craig
50/1 Colin Farrell
50/1 Tom Hardy
50/1 Chris Evans
100/1 Cillian Murphy
100/1 Ewan McGregor
100/1 Henry Cavill
100/1 Hugh Jackman
It’s a pretty comprehensive list of potential leading men in Hollywood, but I somehow doubt that it contains whoever our future Batman will be. Their odds on favorite’s Armie Hammer, which is interesting as he’s actually been cast as Batman before in Mad Max director George Miller’s cancelled Justice League Mortal. Perhaps some more likely contenders are Ben Barnes and Jamie Dornan, each of whom would be very hungry for a superhero role of this magnitude.
I don’t put much stock in their short odds for Jake Gyllenhaal though, despite being strongly rumored in the past, as I suspect that ship’s sailed. Michael B. Jordan would also be an interesting choice for the role, though admittedly, I’d be interested just to see the frothing craziness that particular casting would bring from the chuds.
My bet is that they’ll cast someone who’s not unknown, but who perhaps works in TV and has a lower profile than anyone on this list. Word is that Warner Bros. is eager to find a younger Batman close to the start of his career, so someone in their late 20s to early 30s would seem to be the right bet. Plus, it’d be a lot easier to keep a lower profile actor in contract rather than someone that comes with their own star cache.
Anyways, now that The Batman is finally moving towards production, expect an announcement on who’s going to be in the Batsuit relatively soon. If Affleck’s finally announced that he’s gone, it could be an indication that Warner Bros. is in the final stages of negotiations for his replacement.
