When Zack Snyder stood in front of a packed Hall H and confirmed his Man of Steel sequel would be Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the filmmaker broke the internet. The movie wasn't to everyone's liking when it finally arrived in theaters in 2016, but the furore surrounding who would play the DCEU's Dark Knight was, in many ways, even more exciting than the clash between the heroes!
Ben Affleck eventually landed the part, but we know Josh Brolin (Deadpool 2) was among those considered. Talking to Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, Brolin appeared to express disappointment that he missed out on playing the Dark Knight, and shared some insights into how his take on Bruce Wayne would have differed from what we saw "Batfleck" deliver.
"That was interesting to me. That was [Zack Snyder's] decision. That wasn't my decision. Again, because, like something that is set up to not work at all or to work flyingly. I like those odds. I like playing with those odds," he explained. "I'm like 'am I the guy who's gonna make it all fail?' By the way, who I didn't think was bad, but you know, you talk to Clooney and he's still joking about it. It wasn't his fault. He loves the nipple joke and that was all Joel. But he didn't do anything wrong."
"Again, that was before Deadpool 2. It would have been the older, more raspy, for lack of a better word. Honestly, that would have been a fun deal and maybe I'll do it one day when I'm 80."
It would have been fun to see what Brolin brought to the table as Batman, but everything happens for a reason, and had he played the Caped Crusader, he'd have missed out on Thanos and Cable. The latter is a role many fans hope to see the actor reprise in the MCU, while Brolin recently returned as the Mad Titan by lending his voice to the villain in animated series What If...?
Check out Brolin's comments in full below: