When Matt Reeves was searching for The Batman's Bruce Wayne, the names of a number of possible contenders started doing the rounds online.
Among them were Jack Reynor, Alexander Ludwig, Jack O'Connell, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, and Robert Pattinson, with the latter two ultimately the last potential Caped Crusaders left standing. As we now know, Pattinson landed the coveted role of Batman and the rest, as they say, is history.
During a recent interview with The Guardian, Hoult confirmed that he missed out on getting to play the iconic DC Comics character and reeled off some other big projects he failed to land.
"I screen-tested for Batman and didn’t get it," the X-Men: First Class star says. "Screen-tested for ‘Top Gun,’ didn’t get it. Then I got the call from Tom Cruise: ‘Hey, how about Mission Impossible?’ Ok. Got it. Then I had to drop out because I was already attached to do some more of ‘The Great.’"
When it comes to Top Gun: Maverick, we're guessing Hoult was likely being considered for Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller) or Jake "Hangman" Seresin (Glen Powell).
The news he had been tapped to join the Mission: Impossible franchise at the time was obviously exciting, though him being forced to pass on that for his Hulu TV series is undeniably disappointing. Still, this proves Hollywood has a serious interest in the actor so we're sure another equally noteworthy project will eventually come his way.
Hoult, who played Beast in the X-Men movies, clearly isn't against the idea of suiting up as another major superhero and there's always a chance James Gunn will give him a shot at Batman-led DCU reboot The Brave and the Bold!
When it comes to The Batman franchise, that's set to continue with Pattinson as an Elseworlds property which is completely standalone to whatever DC Studios is plotting.
Do you think Hoult would have been a good Batman?