At Comic-Con, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment officially announced the sequel to Man of Steel which will be a Batman and Superman movie. And now the rumor mill has begun to churn a bit.
Right now one rumor says the movie will be titled Batman vs. Superman. But many have questions regarding what direction the studio will take to cast the Caped Crusader.
Since director Zack Snyder has confirmed the movie will take some of its story basis from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns comic book story arc, some fans assume an older Batman could be cast since he was older in those books. According to the website Batman-On-Film, the studio is rumored to be looking for an older actor.
"According to several... unrelated BOF sources, the new Batman that will appear in the MAN OF STEEL sequel, will be older. Like mid-40s older."
Wait a second... the first thought many fans (and The Daily SuperHero) should have right now, and after reading that quote, is to ask... if this rumor is true then why doesn't the studio just pursue resigning actor Christian Bale to reprise the role? First, Bale has said he does not want to reprise the role, so there's that. Second, The Dark Knight Trilogy is a standalone trilogy and Warner is looking to move away from the movie universe writer/director Christopher Nolan created with his three Batman movies. Finally, the way The Dark Knight Rises ending plays out, it is obvious closure to Bale's incarnation of the hero.
All that brings us to the fact there is still a huge problem with casting a "mid-40s" actor to play Batman and it's the fact the role will be a long term role with a Justice League movie down the road along with a potential solo Batman film. Because of this, finding an actor to commit to the job for what could be for the next 6-10 years could be a problem. Just because the version of Batman in The Dark Knight Returns comics is older doesn't mean it is a right route to go in the adapted movie version.
This isn't to say Warner and DC might seriously want to hire on an older actor like John Hamm (who is The Daily SuperHero's favorite choice in this age range), Josh Brolin or even Ben Affleck to be Bruce Wayne/Batman but whoever the studios chooses needs to realize he could be well into his 50s and still fulfilling his contract to play the Batman.
Stay tuned as Batman vs. Superman is currently in development and casting announcements should begin to hit the news wires sometime in the next 3-5 months with filming to probably begin sometime in the first half of 2014.