In light of the recent Bat-fleck news and the proverbial shit storm of negative responses, let’s take a moment, call off the digital death threats, and reflect on what might have been. Below you’ll find a list of fifteen actors who were almost Batman.
Charlie Sheen

While researching for this list no one stuck out to me more than Charlie Sheen. At this point his personal life has overshadowed his career so entirely, it’s hard to see how this might have worked. I was unable to find much more information than that he was once considered for the role, unfortunately for Sheen it didn’t work out, he was unable to become Batman so settled for bat shit.
Bill Murray
When Tim Burton was still in the planning stages of 1989’s Batman there were two ideas for how the movie could have been handled. One of those roads ended with Michael Keaton, the other with Bill Fucking Murray. When asked about this during an interview with MTV Murray remarked-
“I would have been a fine Batman. You know, there have been a number of Batmen. I like them… I thought Mike Keaton did a great job as Batman. It’s obviously — it’s a great role.”
Alec Baldwin
In the days after Michael Keaton took off the cowl there was talk of handing it off to another Beetlejuice alum, Alec Baldwin. It ultimately passed, as you all know, to Iceman Kilmer.
Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta was asked to audition for Tim Burton’s Batman, he was quoted during an interview at Savannah Film Festival as saying “I remember right after a movie I did, Something Wild, Tim Burton wanted to meet me for Batman. And at that time, I said, ‘What are you kidding me? I’m an actor.’ But now it’s changed; now it’s good because if you do that you get other movies.” Liotta went on to accept the lead in Goodfellas, I can’t help but wonder how he would have handled the character. He’s got a certain venom to him that I imagine would have served the dark knight well.
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson…
I just keep hearing him call the joker sugar tits in a growling mutter.
Information on Gibson was minimal, so I’ll just leave you with that.
Joshua Jackson
Christopher Nolan called together eight actors to audition for the role of Bruce Wayne, Jackson was one of those eight, we’ll get to some of the others later. When asked about the experience Jackson said-
“I went and did the screen test, I was one the last four or five guys up for the role of Batman.” he also indicated he wouldn’t say no to taking on the character again, no word on if he got a shot before Bat-fleck swooped in.
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz was reportedly the first choice for Nolan’s Batman Begins but he turned the role down. Bones also began in 2005, perhaps the load of doing both would have been too heavy, or maybe the draw of a Deschanel clouded his judgment. For whatever reason he declined and the role passed to Bale.
Clint Eastwood
The book- Tales From Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made by David Hughes discusses a Batman movie starring Eastwood, shot it Tokyo to double for Gotham. This idea never got much farther than a pitch.
Tom Selleck
According to screenrant, Tim Burton considered Selleck among others for the iconic role. I’m not sure I would be able to get past that mustache hovering below the cowl, I’m glad I’ll never have to try.
Jake Gyllenhaal
Seven other actors auditioned for Batmen Begins alongside Joshua Jackson, among them was Jake Gyllenhaal. David S. Goyer said in an interveiw that before auditions Gyllenhaal was his choice but he was won over by Bale. It worked out for the best, seeing Luke and Leia kiss was hard enough, seeing Jake and Maggie kiss would have been too much.
Cillian Murphy
Murphy was also on the short list for Nolan’s Origin flick, while he didn’t get the role he was liked so much he was offered the role of Dr. Crane/Scarecrow. Murphy is a great actor to be certain but his persona and his look made him a great choice for a villain. The right choice was made here.
Ashton Kutcher
I don’t have much Kutcher hate. I actually think he’s alright and is capable of acting but this idea perplexes me. I just don’t see it. Perhaps that’s why I’m not an executive at Warner Bros. They reportedly lobbied for Kutcher but Nolan didn’t want him and the eventually relented.
Johnny Depp
You may remember rumors from a few years back that Depp had been tapped to play Riddler for Nolan’s third installment, Depp indicated that there was no meat to those rumors but that he WAS considered for the lead in Batman Forever. When asked, Depp had the following to say.
“I was very interested. What happened was Tim was producing it and he was trying to talk Joel Schumacher (the Director) and the movie bosses to give me a shot at the role but it just never really worked out.”
Heath Ledger
Nolan had spoken with Ledger about playing Bruce Wayne, Ledger declined saying he had no interest in doing that kind of film. By the time The Dark Knight came around luckily for us Ledger had changed his mind. What resulted was Ledger’s Joker, one of the best performances in modern cinema, if you ask me.
Armie Hammer
In 2007 a Justice League movie was in the works. Casting was completed and Armie Hammer was slated to be the caped crusader. The project was scrapped shortly before shooting began. Hammer went from not protecting Gotham to not inventing Facebook.
This list is by no means comprehensive but is a good look at some of the actors who once had a shot at putting on the suit. After having looked at the what-if’s and almost-were’s the Affleck news can be seen in a new light. Perhaps there were better choices, but there were certainly worse. In the end, Affleck is a solid actor and is perfectly capable of pulling this off. I’m happy to give the man a shot and make a judgment based on the performance rather than speculation.
As a final piece of advice when regarding these news items…
Cheers.
Sources:
- MTV.com
- TCM.com
- BLASTR.com
- MTV Movies Blog
- IMDB
- The book Tales From Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made by David Hughes
- SCREENRANT.com
- IMDB Trivia
- Comic Book Movie
- IGN