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In the history of comic cinema, few roles are coveted as much as playing Batman. Even well before the age of the domination of superheroes in the 2000s, “Batman” by Tim Burton was a success that helped make Michael Keaton a superstar. The Caped Crusader is one of the most durable and most liked characters to have made its debut in the pages of a comic strip. Naturally, when Zack Snyder sought to launch a new actor as Batman for what has finally become “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice,” Warner Bros. threw a large net, with a lot of actors in the mixture. One of these actors had just released a major role in the very successful “Hobbit” franchise.
Richard Armitage played Thorin in the “The Hobbit” trilogy by Peter Jackson. Serving prequal to “the Lord of the Rings”, the trilogy pulled $ 2.9 billion collectively at the world box office. Although they are not as loved as original films, Armitage was essential to burst as a even larger star. As such, since he was at the beginning of the forties, when Snyder sought to launch Batman for what, at the time, could have been closer to “Man of Steel 2” than the team film that we finally obtained. It may not be surprising that his name is on the restricted list.
Ben Affleck ended up winning the role of Batman, leading to a very unequal series of films in the extended universe of DC (DCEU), alias the Snyreveverse. For better or for worse, Armitage got closer but could not conclude the agreement. Addressing Digital Spy in 2018, the actor thought a little about his flirting time by becoming the new Batman.
“There was a little darling of time just after I got out of the hobbit where I auditioned for Batman. It was at the same time that Christian Bale was leaving, there were about five or six actors who were online for this character, so I followed a whole process with that.”
“The kind of darker side of a man and the desire to correct wrongs,” added Armitage. “I think it’s really interesting, this character Bruce Wayne.”
Richard Armitage is not the only actor to see Batman in the DCEU
Whether Armitage would have been a good choice for Batman or not is a question that we can debate constantly, but we will never know. What we know with certainty is that the DCEU was a bit of an unequal company, with Snyder according to the traces of the “The Dark Knight” trilogy by Christopher Nolan. During all this time, Warner Bros. rushed to break a DC universe that could compete with Marvel. It all started to collapse when “Justice League” arrived in 2017, before being lying for good with the release of “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” in 2023.
Armitage was also not the only actor to consider for the role before Affleck was thrown. In August 2013, a limited list of actors who was ready in Batman in “Batman V Superman” was reported. This list included Josh Brolin (“No Country for Old Men”), Ryan Gosling (“Drive”), Matthew Goode (“Watchmen”), Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”) and Max Martini (“Revenge”). Snyder, in the end, went differently with him by throwing Affleck.
Brolin spoke a little about his turn to Batman, but he does not seem to have any regrets to land the role now. As for Armitage, he flirted with a great comic strip film, playing the relatively minor role of the agent of Hydra Heinz Kruger in “Captain America: The First Avenger” in 2011. He also expressed Wolverine in the Podcast series “Wolverine: The Long Night”.
However, the actor has worked in the last decade, expressing Trevor Belmont in the “Castlevania” series of Netflix, as well as in a major role in “Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft”. Some of his other notable credits include “Hannibal”, “Alice through the glass”, “Ocean’s 8”, “Obsession” and “Fool Me Once”.
You can enter “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” on 4K, Blu-Ray or DVD of Amazon.
