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Superman was briefly considered for Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe, says Snyder

May 27th, 2021 by Marc Comments

I have heard many times that Ben Affleck’s Batman was originally going to be an older version of Christian Bale’s take on the character but Bale wasn’t keen to continue in the role.

Now, while I was never able to confirm this, it would make sense – the real-world approach to both franchises, the older take on Batman, the fact that the Wayne Industries logo being similar in Man of Steel and the Dark Knight Trilogy, the fact that there was no Batman standalone… there are many reasons that would fit the theory. Indeed, Bale has said in the past that he regets not continuing in the role (here).

And now Zack Snyder himself has thrown a pebble in the pond causing a ripple that may support the idea.

In a recent interview, Snyder confirms that at one stage there was an idea to bring Superman into Nolan’s Dark Knight universe – indeed Nolan was a producer on the Snyder DC movies.

“It was not 100 percent off the table,” Snyder told the Happy Sad Confused podcast, below.

“We did talk about it a little bit. The whole thing is that, I think that it’s difficult, and it would have been interesting because that would have meant, just doing the math, that the Batman – maybe that’s why we didn’t do it, that if we had done that the Batman in this movie would have been probably… It would’ve been Joseph [Gordon-Levitt]. Which could’ve been cool.”

Now, Snyder’s saying that the Batman in the story would have been Joseph Gordon-Levitt – who took on the mantle of the bat after Bruce retired/faked his death – is devastating to my Affleck hypothesis, but I like it and am sticking with it. Anyway, where were we?

“Also I think [Nolan] kind of, and I don’t blame him, I like that his thing doesn’t get muddied by these other… It’s a tight box and I’m glad I didn’t f@#k with it because it’s a pretty nice trilogy and I enjoy it,” Snyder added.

Nolan’s trilogy was a critical and commercial success, with The Dark Knight – which saw Heath Ledger’s iconic turn as the Joker – widely regarded as one of the best superhero movies of all time.

Now, personally, I love the Nolan movies and I think that Affleck is a better Batman than Bale – though I love him too, calm  down – but I like the idea, and it’s explored in Snyder’s movies and is sort of the drive behind Batman’s rage, that Bruce Wayne/Batman understood the world; there were no aliens threatening his world, just villains with delusions of grandeur until suddenly Superman arrives and everything changes.

And I think Bale’s (Gordon-Levitt’s) Batman could have adjusted to that, much like Affleck’s Batman did… much like Tony Stark in the MCU started off fighting other humans and by the end was saving the universe, battling aliens on a daily basis. If handled well, this could have worked.

But, alas, it was never to be. But, as fans, we like to dwell in what could have been, don’t we?

Let me know your thoughts.

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….