Last night, it was revealed that Jonah Hill is being eyed to play a villain in
The Batman. Since then, it's been reported that he's keen to play The Riddler, while Warner Bros. may (or may not) want him to star as The Penguin. For now, it seems we'll have to wait and see how things play out, but it sounds like a difference of opinion in terms of who he should play might not be the only issue.
According to
Variety reporter Justin Kroll, the offer to join this DC Comics adaptation has been on the table for the past month, and money is also a major bargaining point at this stage. At one point, it's said Hill reportedly wanted as much as $10 million to star in Matt Reeves' movie, which is more than twice as much as Robert Pattinson is earning to play the Dark Knight.
Now, it's going to be up to Warner Bros. to decide whether Hill is a big enough box office draw to justify paying him that much money. Regardless of whether he is taking on the role of The Penguin or The Riddler, though, it's clear that he could wind up being
The Batman's main big bad as it would be hard for him to demand that much money if he's just making a glorified cameo!
There will be quite a few villains in
The Batman, though, and it now seems like the cast is starting to come together with the addition of
Westworld's Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon.
Hit the "View List" button for a fun reminder of 10
awesome times Batman has kicked Superman's butt!
10. "Tower Of Babel"
Mark Waid’s critically acclaimed "Tower Of Babel" revealed that Batman has a way of taking down each and every member of the Justice League should they ever go bad (a plot point recently revisited by Geoff Johns in
Justice League), something none of them are particularly happy to discover, especially when Ra’s al Ghul gets his hands on those weapons.
Kicked out of the team for a short while, it’s not actually Batman who uses any of his contingency plans on his teammates, but we still get to see what exactly Bruce Wayne would be willing to do to take his friends down if the need were to ever arise. In Superman’s case, that’s with red Kryptonite created by Batman.
This doesn’t kill Superman, but greatly weakens him, and the results are actually pretty gross. You see, it turns his skin transparent, thereby making the Man of Steel unable to stand the sun’s radiation. Superman’s natural solar absorption abilities are so overwhelmed that he effectively becomes powerless, and while Batman may not have been the one to deal this blow, this is just one of many examples if him using his superior intellect to find a way to stop a seemingly indestructible being.
The real lesson here? Never piss Batman off!
9. The Dark Knight Returns
Perhaps their most famous comic book battle to date, Frank Miller’s
The Dark Knight Returns is also the story which Zack Snyder heavily borrowed from for inspiration with
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Taking advantage of Superman being weakened by a recent nuclear bomb blast, Bruce Wayne armours up and prepares for war with his former ally. Even as an older man, Batman is able to use his superior fighting skills and technological know how to his advantage and gives Superman a real beating. When it looks like the tide is turning, he even has a back up plan in the form of Green Arrow, who shoots Superman with Kryptonite in order to weaken him even further.
The fight unfortunately never gets a proper resolution, as it’s around this point that Bruce fakes a heart attack, but he first makes sure to point out that he could have used a deadlier mix of Kryptonite to take Superman out for good had he chosen to. Superman is only alive because Batman allowed it, proving he could stop his far more powerful opponent whenever he wants.
8. Batman/Superman Annual #1
This one-shot story isn’t anything particularly special, but the fight which takes place between Batman and Superman is still pretty interesting.
Forced to compete in a gladiatorial arena of sorts, Batman once again arms himself with Kryptonite as a way of evening the odds. With the fate of Earth hanging in the balance, a reluctant Batman gives his all in this fight, and Superman is left bloodied and battered by the time all is said and done.
The heroes were only actually stalling for time and needed to make the fight look convincing, so it could have gone either way. It’s interesting to note then that it’s the Dark Knight who reigns supreme, and it’s only the fact that he’s such a good guy that he doesn’t finish his friend off when he’s done with delivering this beating. There’s no two ways about it; Batman is the better fighter!
7. "The Trust"
A relatively little known tale taking place over only seven or eight pages, Chip Kidd’s “The Trust” is beautifully illustrated by comic book legend Alex Ross.
With Superman sent out of control by Brainiac, only Batman can stop his friend from tearing the world apart. A flashback reveals that the Man of Steel gave his friend a piece of Kryptonite years earlier in case he needed to ever stop him, and the Caped Crusader doesn’t hesitate to do what he deems necessary.
Attaching himself to the flying Superman by shooting his grappling gun around his legs, Batman breaks his one rule to put his friend down; he uses a gun and shoots him.
As you may have already guessed, it’s loaded with Kryptonite, but there’s a twist. While Batman considered using a bullet to take out Superman for good, he decided to instead use a dart, and that gives him the opportunity to remove the device controlling his friend’s actions and take out the dart before it finishes him off. Had he been a little more ruthless, though, Batman could have easily ended Superman on that day…
6. Red Son
Mark Millar’s Red Son looks at what would have happened if Superman had been raised in Soviet Russia, and provides an interesting alternate take on many well-known DC Comics characters.
One of them is Batman, and aside from the fact that he sports a pretty cool hat, he’s the same old Caped Crusader we know and love. There’s no Kryptonite involved this time, as this version of the Dark Knight uses sun lamps to weaken Superman and proceeds to dominate him in battle, eventually knocking him unconscious with a well placed Batarang to the head.
However, when Wonder Woman intervenes and frees Superman, Batman decides to commit suicide rather than return to the KGB a failure and face lobotomization or worse.
Despite that somewhat tragic ending, he still beat Superman, and actually makes surprisingly short work of him. Superman being powerless made this a completely fair fight, and without his amazing abilities, the so-called Man of Steel never stood a chance!
5. Batman: The Animated Series
Warner Bros. has yet to replicate the success of animated shows like
Batman: The Animated Series and
Superman: The Animated Series. As the shows aired at the same time, the two heroes met in crossover episodes a number of times, and there were two occasions where Batman completely humiliated the Man of Steel without needing to even lay a finger on him.
During their first meeting, Superman used his X-Ray vision to take a peek under the cowl and learn that the Dark Knight was secretly Bruce Wayne. Feeling pretty smug about his discovery, Superman was horrified to return home and find a tracking device on his cape. Turning around, Metropolis’ alien hero was confronted by the sight of Batman on a distant rooftop looking directly into the apartment of Clark Kent. Like. A. Boss.
Using his superior intelligence wasn’t the only way Batman kicked Superman’s ass in these shows, though. At one point, he started dating Lois Lane as Bruce Wayne because he knew that there was a) nothing he could do about it, and b) it would get under his skin. These instances just go to show that the Caped Crusader doesn’t even need to touch Superman to beat him!
4. "Handful Of Dust"
As with many hero on hero battles, Batman and Superman most frequently seem to fight when one of them is under some sort of mind control. That was the case in
Batman: The Dark Knight #5 near the start of The New 52 relaunch, but that made the David Finch illustrated battle no less epic to watch unfold.
Drugged out of his mind on a new batch of The Scarecrow’s fear toxin, Batman’s fighting skills were greatly enhanced as he pretty much Hulked out and gained super strength and a serious need to kill.
This put the two heroes on an equal playing field, and Batman knocked seven bells out of Superman before the Man of Steel was forced to retaliate with a punch which very nearly finished off the out of control Caped Crusader (however, it also helped to diminish the effects of the poison, so ended up saving Bruce’s life).
As a result, Superman technically won this contest, but it’s still worth noting that Batman gave his fellow Justice League member a nasty beating before that happened. Just imagine how this fight might have gone if he’d been as strong as the Kryptonian. Supes wouldn’t stand a chance!
3. "Hush"
During Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s popular “Hush” storyline, Superman ends up getting a kiss from Poison Ivy, and targets Batman while under her control.
Prepared for a fight, Batman removes the now iconic Kryptonite ring from his utility belt to help make it a fair fight. As the better fighter, Batman is able to keep the battle in close quarters to stop Superman from taking to the skies and even deploys hypersonics to slow the Man of Steel down. When that doesn’t work, the Dark Knight uses the battlefield to his advantage and electrocutes his friend, blacking out the city in the process!
It turns out that all of this was just a way of stalling for time though, as Batman has sent Catwoman to kidnap Lois Lane, and she proceeds to drop her from a building to get Superman to snap free of Ivy’s control. Thankfully, it works, and Batman was again able to use his smarts to defeat the far more powerful hero.
Before that though, the Kryptonite ring certainly helped him to kick the crap out of the Man of Steel!
2. The Dark Knight Strikes Again
There’s no two ways about it;
The Dark Knight Strikes Again is terrible. The fact that it follows on from the critically acclaimed
The Dark Knight Returns is hard to believe, as Frank Miller’s artwork and writing take a nosedive in quality.
Nonetheless, it features a pretty cool fight between Batman and Superman as they square off in what you might call a rematch from their previous encounter.
Forced to confront Batman by the government, Superman heads to the Batcave and the fight begins. There’s no armour involved this time, but Bruce does arm himself with a couple of massive Kryptonite gauntlets, and proceeds to make short work of the Man of Steel as a result. Of course, he has some help from his fellow heroes (The Atom certainly helps to even the odds), but Batman still leaves Superman a bloodied and battered mess by the time they’re through here.
Simply put, the only way Superman is ever going to stand a chance against Batman is if he gets over his little Kryptonite allergy…
1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
This movie may have been somewhat controversial, but there's no denying that it's perhaps the perfect example of Batman finding a way to best Superman when they come to blows.
After laying out a series of traps, this perfectly planned battle between the two heroes saw Bruce Wayne utilise Kryptonite in order to weaken his opponent and he wasn't taking any prisoners; instead, the older Caped Crusader set out to MURDER Clark Kent and he very nearly succeeded. In fact, had a certain name not been said, he would have stabbed Superman to death!
So, as we said, controversial!
Taking that ending aside, though, this was like watching the comic books come to life and Zack Snyder deserves a lot of credit for how this fight was handled...Superman fans may not agree!
Continue reading below for a recap of where things
went wrong for Ben Affleck's Batman in the DCEU!
Batfleck Backlash
On August 22nd, 2013, Ben Affleck was announced as the new Batman for what was then being billed as an untitled Man of Steel sequel. Despite his impressive turns in movies like The Town and Argo, there was an immediate backlash and fans really weren't on board with him playing the Caped Crusader.
Here on CBM, the article revealing the news received over 1500 comments with gems like, "[I'm] just really not a fan of this news... [I] feel like DC hates us," "Nothing about Affleck screams Bruce Wayne or Batman," and "NO. No way, this has got to be a joke surely? I mean, BEN AFFLECK? BEN AFFLECK!?!?!?!? No way. I refuse to believe it." And those are just the clean ones!
This wasn't a good start for Batfleck and the actor later talked about being told by Warner Bros. to not pay too much attention to what was being said online. Unfortunately, things would only get worse for him from there...
Batman v Superman Bombs
As time passed, the images and trailers made it clear that Affleck was a great choice to play the hero (visually, at least) and when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theaters, pretty much no one had anything bad to say about his version of the character.
Unfortunately, the movie took an absolute pounding and the actor became a meme thanks to an interview which saw him dubbed "Sad Affleck." He clearly wasn't happy with the way things were going, but remained attached to direct a Batman movie he'd been writing with comic book scribe Geoff Johns and was lined up to appear in Suicide Squad.
Still, he can't have been pleased about starring in a critical flop as it hurt his status as a director and was like Daredevil all over again.
A Pointless Suicide Squad Cameo
When set photos showed Batman chasing down The Joker and Harley Quinn, fans were extremely excited to see how that would play out in Suicide Squad. Unfortunately, his appearance there boiled down to an underwhelming car chase in which he never interacted with the Clown Prince of Crime and a far too brief battle with Deadshot which was a total disappointment.
On the plus side, we did get a pretty cool mid-credits scene featuring Bruce Wayne and Amanda Waller.
The main problem was that Suicide Squad was another critical flop for Warner Bros. and while Batman's role was brief, this was another bad superhero movie (according to the critics, at least) that Affleck's name was attached to. It was at this point that he clearly started to grow frustrated with the role.
Ben Affleck's Frustrations
"With Live by Night, it took me a year and a half to write and get ready, and I worked really hard and — it’s just, nobody gave a sh*t!," Affleck told Jimmy Kimmel when asked for an update on The Batman. "But with Batman, I keep on getting, ‘Where’s the f***ing Batman script?!’ I’m like, ‘Whoa — I’m working! Give me a second!'"
It seemed like the pressure was getting the best of him. Live by Night (which Affleck directed while shooting Batman v Superman and Justice League, thereby taking his attention away from that movie) was a critical disappointment and that really can't have helped.
It was around this time that rumours about him being done with Batman after Justice League started gaining traction and it seemed as if his days as the hero might be numbered. However, fans held out hope because The Batman was still in the works. Well, not for much longer, unfortunately!
The Batman Falls Apart
Affleck's version of The Batman would have pitted the Dark Knight against Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke and that was an idea fans could get on board with (especially with Johns contributing his comic book knowledge to the script).
On January 30th, 2017, the actor issued the following statement about no longer directing the movie:
"There are certain characters who hold a special place in the hearts of millions. Performing this role demands focus, passion and the very best performance I can give. It has become clear that I cannot do both jobs to the level they require. Together with the studio, I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film. I am still in this, and we are making it, but we are currently looking for a director. I remain extremely committed to this project, and look forward to bringing this to life for fans around the world."
That was it for his version of The Batman but things still looked good because at least Affleck was going to team up with a new director to bring the movie to life, while still playing the Caped Crusader. Hell, he even declared at Comic-Con that, "I am the luckiest guy in the world, Batman is the coolest f***ing part in any universe." Matt Reeves was hired but things didn't go as we thought.
Creative Differences?
Reeves quickly made it clear that he was not only making changes to Affleck and John's script; he was totally rewriting it from scratch. What was going to be an action movie along the lines of The Raid was to be transformed into a noir thriller and the director clearly had a different vision for how Batman's story should play out, hence why we started hearing rumblings about it being a prequel.
Whether or not Affleck's departure had something to do with creative differences behind the scenes is hard to say, but it really didn't feel like these two were ever on the same page and that when Warner Bros. hired Reeves, they knew he wanted to essentially reboot the character and take him down a more standalone path which isn't necessarily connected to the wider DC Extended Universe.
The Justice League Dilemma
We really don't need to recap what went wrong with Justice League again but the fact is, this was the third DC movie that Affleck starred in which was met with scathing reviews from critics.
He can't have been happy with that and the writing was on the wall at this point.
Sure, we were hearing stories that he might play Batman one final time in Flashpoint to bring a close to his time as the character while a younger actor would take over in The Batman, but once that fell apart and Warner Bros. decided to focus on standalone story, it was apparent that it was simply a matter of time before it was made official that he would no longer be playing Bruce Wayne.
A New Batman
It feels like we spent all of 2018 sifting through rumours about who could be the next Batman and names like Jack O'Connell, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Richard Armitage continued popping up online.
Nothing concrete was revealed, of course, and as far as we were concerned, Affleck was technically still attached to the role. His personal life was in disarray, though, as he re-entered rehab and clearly had more on his plate than playing a superhero again.
The trades and fansites weighed in but nothing was made official until earlier this year.
Batman, No More
This year, The Batman got a release date: June 25th, 2021. It won't star Ben Affleck, though, and Robert Pattinson was cast by Matt Reeves. The movie will reportedly be a noir-type detective story that finally sheds some light on why the Dark Knight has been described as the World's Greatest Detective.
We don't know if this will be a reboot, a prequel, or a standalone adventure unrelated to Justice League. However, after months of conflicting reports and rumours, Affleck is obviously done as Batman and that's a shame because it's hard to escape the feeling that we missed something special here.
Had things played out differently, we could have very easily seen his Batman on screen for years to come but it wasn't meant to be.