9 Actors You Probably Didn’t Know Almost Played Batman

6) Pierce Brosnan

The name’s Wayne. Bruce Wayne.

Yes, Pierce Brosnan was one of the actors considered for the Caped Crusader before Michael Keaton signed on the dotted line. Apparently, the Irish actor laughed away the offer at the time, citing his belief that superheroes were silly.

“It was the beginning of these huge movies, and I just thought, Batman?” Brosnan has since said. “Batman held such an indelible place in my own childhood, but I said something flippant to Tim Burton like, ‘Any guy who wears his underpants outside his trousers cannot be taken seriously.’ So, yeah.”

Brosnan probably isn’t too cut up about missing out on Batman, however. Playing that role would surely would have precluded him from being cast as that other gadget-laden hero for the ages, James Bond, in 1995’s Goldeneye.