The cast for The Batman is slowly coming together around Robert Pattinson in the lead role, and here’s a new name who may end up joining the crew. We Got This Covered is hearing that Dark Phoenix star Kodi Smit-McPhee – who played Kurt Wagner AKA Nightcrawler in Fox’s X-Men franchise – is in talks for the movie.
We’ve got good reason to trust this information, too, as it comes to us via the same source who previously told us Jonah Hill was signing on before that was confirmed by other outlets and that Mahershala Ali was up for Commissioner Gordon. Though the part ultimately went to Jeffrey Wright, Ali was the original top choice before he dropped out to do Marvel’s Blade, something which has since been confirmed as well.
This isn’t the first time an X-Men actor has been linked to The Batman, either. Nicholas Hoult is known to have been the second choice for the lead, with the actor also in the running for one of the villains, too. What’s more, Smith-McPhee has worked with director Matt Reeves before, as he played Alexander in the filmmaker’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes sequel in 2014.
As for who Smit-McPhee could portray here, it’s difficult to say, as Reeves seems to be going for some deliberately left-field casting choices (see: Rihanna as Poison Ivy). The 23-year-old actor’s young age might make fans wonder if he could be playing one of Bruce Wayne’s sidekicks though, as it was recently reported that Reeves is considering tackling Nightwing in the movie.
In any case, we know that The Batman is set to be more of a detective noir than past Bat-films, with Kevin Smith claiming that it’ll be mostly based on seminal comic The Long Halloween. That does seem to be the case, too, judging by the many antagonists who’ll show up in the movie, as Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face and more are expected to appear.
We’ll keep you updated on further Batman casting news as and when we hear it, but for now, know that the movie’s locked in to swoop into cinemas on June 25th, 2021.
