Welcome back to the second instalment of the Multiversity Call Sheet! Last month, I explored what I’d love to see from a possible Fantastic Four film in the MCU and who I’d like to see portray Marvel’s First Family.
This month, I’m tackling a film that is (pretty) certain to happen, but details about it are entirely up in the air at time of writing: Matt Reeve’s The Batman. Once upon a time, this was a film set to be written, directed by and starring Ben Affleck as the caped crusader, but… well, Batman V. Superman happened. And then Justice League happened. Now, all we know for certain that Ben Affleck is… producing the film. Whether he’s still even in the film is really anyone’s guess.
So here’s what I propose: go back to the beginning. Not an origin story per se, but a film set roughly fifteen to eighteen years prior to the events of Batman V. Superman. Bruce Wayne is established as Batman in a very different Gotham City and has largely made a name for himself fighting organised crime. Then, one night, at a circus… everything changes.
Let’s dig in a little further.
What We’d Like To See
We open with the death of parents. Not Bruce Wayne’s this time, but Dick Grayson’s. A circus, a trapeze snapping, a fall from a great height, an orphaned Robin. A nightmare that Dick wakes from to a comforting Alfred, who tells him that he’s safe in Wayne Manor, that he has a home. But also that there’s work to do; Dick looks out the window to see the bat-signal and sighs.
Let’s back up a bit: I want to open the film with an established pairing of Batman and Robin, who are but months into their partnership. Dick is raw, emotional and unfocused. Bruce is temperamental and judgemental. The film is about how they forge a powerful partnership and how Robin fundamentally makes for a better, more well rounded Batman; setting up the tragedy to follow when that is taken from him. The rough events of “Year One,” “The Long Halloween” and “Dark Victory” have all taken place in the months to a year prior to this film opening. Gotham City is reeling from the death of Carmine Falcone – which has left a massive power vacuum – and the scarring and subsequent incarceration of District Attoryney Harvey Dent.
That power vacuum will come to be filled by a figure I think is perpetually overlooked in the Batman mythos: Black Mask. I’m borrowing heavily from Arkham Origins here, I know, but I think that game showcases perfectly what I want to illustrate. Up to this point, Bruce has only tackled mobsters and lower level supervillains: folks like Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze (who we will see towards the end of this film). Black Mask is the first figure to take the idea of mythic, pop villainy to a new level. To take Batman’s tactic of concealing his identity to instil fear and use it to fill the power vacuum left by Falcone’s death and unite Gotham City’s underworld through allegiance to him.
Anyway, the film’s first act establishes the powerful, but unstable partnership between Batman and Robin which culminates in a setup. See, Black Mask has hired Deathstroke to eliminate the Bat and the Boy Wonder, paving the way for him to take control of Gotham largely unopposed. After a brutal, highly polished, multi-layered fight in which Deathstroke ably goes toe-to-toe with the dynamic duo. Deathstroke is driven off, but Robin is injured during the fight and Bruce, infuriated, benches him after taking him to Leslie Thompkin’s Park Row clinic to ensure his recovery.
Throughout the second act, Bruce becomes driven to the point of madness trying to track down and outthink Deathstroke while Dick tries to prove his worth to Bruce by investigating his parents’s deaths. That investigation leads him to Tony Zucco, who is in the employ of Black Mask. Dick’s Batman-like interrogation cracks Zucco into spilling about how Black Mask had pressured him into getting money from Haley, the circus runner, even if it meant killing his star attraction. The pressure causes Zucco’s weak heart to give and Dick, finally given closure, reconciles with Batman, who had been tailing him. Their bond somewhat restored, the two face their biggest challenge yet as Deathstroke organises a mass riot and breakout at Blackgate penitentiary, forcing Batman and Robin to run a gauntlet of recognisable foes (like Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, etc.) before coming face to face with Deathstroke and Black Mask and, obviously, defeating them.
Continued belowThe key elements to the film are thus: Dick Grayson is the emotional core here. I’m assuming Dick was the Robin killed in the DCEU (even if he wasn’t, you have to set up Dick in order to transition to Jason) and thus if you want that tragedy, the one that drove Bruce beyond the line of recognisability, to matter, you have to make the audience care about their initial partnership. This also allows WB to create a franchise within a franchise of a late 90s period piece Batman series while they soft reboot modern day Batman after Ben Affleck finally gives up the ghost and moves on with his life.
Who We’d Like To See
Batman/Bruce Wayne: Charlie Cox OR Ben Barnes
Yeah, part of the reason I’m suggesting a soft reboot in the form of a prequel would allow for a younger actor to step into the cowl and, honestly, I’m torn. Part of me wanted to just cleanly suggest Charlie Cox because, let’s face it, Daredevil ain’t coming back and, more importantly, Charlie Cox more convincingly played the part of a tortured, unhinged vigilante hiding a secret identity than any actual live action Batman I’ve ever seen. Episode 6 of the first season of Daredevil was better than any Batman film.
That being said, Ben Barnes was equally brilliant as a dark, sexy maniac in The Punisher and when trying to pick a Batman that could realistically age into Ben Affleck’s Batman, I think he might cinch it.
Either way, it lets Affleck step away from the pressures of the role for the time being, let’s WB subtly shift the DCEU Batman so that his murderous ways in BvS are given greater context and will either let Affleck return to the role in Justice League 2 with a firmer sense of the character or will let WB bring in their new actor to play the older, grizzled Batman in the present.
Robin/Dick Grayson: Dylan O’Brien
I spent a long time bellyachin’ over this one. O’Brien is not who I’d pick for my Batman film, but for Matt Reeve’s Batman film? I think I could just about let that go. O’Brien is certainly no Boy Wonder, being 27 at time of writing, but then again Brenton Thwaites is currently playing an older, but still Robin aged Dick in Titans and is… 29. So, y’know, there’s precedent?
If I was given free reign of the Batman film franchise untethered to the DCEU then I’d like to look for a younger actor with Romani origins and a penchant for acrobatics to better fit the character, but I think O’Brien makes for a good potential DCEU Robin.
Alfred Pennyworth: Jason Isaacs
Isaacs was not my original pick here, I’ll be honest, but I completely forgot that David Thewlis was in Wonder Woman until after I’d started assembling this column and kind of had to scramble for my second pick. Thewlis was my “could definitely age into Jeremy Irons over 20 years” pick, but Isaacs is more like my “could definitely portray that harder edged Alfred” pick.
If Batman is younger, not entirely experienced and still becoming comfortable in the role, then a more stable, more stern Alfred is needed, one that could also comfort that young (27 year old) orphan that he’s taken under his wing. Isaac’s, with a little grey in his hair and having to start using reading glasses to combat his advancing age, could ably portray a mite younger Alfred.
James Gordon: Guy Pearce
Again, this is a pick that had to comfortably age into J.K. Simmons’s portrayal of Gordon in Justice League because, like it or not, this film still has to tie into that universe and those are the rules I set myself. Now, sure, you could certainly digitally de-age Simmons himself to play a younger Gordon (as you could Jeremy Irons as Alfred, admittedly), but I feel like that’s Marvel’s schtick and one of my goals with this hypothetical film is to give WB a Batman franchise untethered to and yet still fundamentally connected to that whole Snyderverse DCEU… stuff.
Continued belowSo, yeah, Guy Pearce. He could grow up to J.K. Simmons, right?
Leslie Thompkins: Shohreh Aghdashloo
Leslie Thompkins has never appeared in a live action film and that’s criminal. Now, how I’d bring her into this film is through Dick’s injury. Calling to mind “Batman” #408 and “Detective Comics” #574, I’d want Batman to bring an injured Robin to the doorstep of Leslie Thompkins’s Park Row clinic. Here could be a scene exploring Leslie’s history with Bruce, how she took him in after his parents’s death and how they’ve been estranged since his journey to becoming Batman while Thompkins sets about stabilising Dick.
Look, I just really like Leslie Thompkins, okay? She needs to be in a film and I can’t think of anyone who better embodies her stern yet motherly caring nature than Shoreh Aghdashloo.
Vicki Vale: Yaya Dacosta
Now, here’s where I’m rocking the boat a bit. Vicki Vale is a fascinating character to me because, in many ways, she’s positioned as Batman’s Lois Lane. I mean, she’s literally a reporter fascinated by a superhero who ends up falling for the alter ego of said superhero without realising the connection. Tim Burton played that to a tee.
What I’d love to do with the character instead is make her a bit more of a hard nosed investigative journalist, a bit less trusting of the Bat and more focused on reporting his connections to the organised crime of Gotham. Someone who has covered the crime beat for as long as she can remember and is chronicling the change in a city riddled by crime caused by the catalyst of the appearance of costumed vigilantes.
And for the longest time I had Yaya Dacosta down as my pick for Misty Knight so when I thought of a more investigative, more present Vicki Vale? She was my go-to pick.
Tony Zucco: Ray Liotta
As far back as he could remember, Tony Zucco always wanted to be a gangster.
In all honesty, you could replace Liotta with any number of recognisable Italian American actors with a penchant for playing gangsters. That’s the real joke here: get someone recognisable enough to illicite a “Oh, hey, it’s that guy!” from the audience, but who won’t object to being a bit part who shows up to be literally scared to death. I just chose Liotta so I could do that Goodfellas bit.
Black Mask: Sean Harris
If the name of the game for Black Mask is to take the same totemic, mythological fear of The Mask that Batman employs and use it to take control of Gotham’s underworld, you need someone who can command fear and respect in the same breath with very little. I don’t want Sionis to be a character who exists outside of the mask for, like, 90% of the film. Maybe he’ll be unmasked in the finale, but the mask and the performance behind it is key. So it’s all eyes, it’s all voice, it’s all presence.
And who better than Britain’s greatest living actor, Sean Harris? That’s right, I said it. Between Mission: Impossible, Southecliffe and the only-good-for-his-performance Possum, Sean Harris is my go-to intense actor right now and he could act circles around everyone even behind an emotionless mask.
Deathstroke: Joe Manganiello
My dude’s already Deathstroke. Let’s let him stretch his legs. ‘Nuff said.
Two-Face: Jon Hamm
I’m not going to lie, a lot of the reason I picked The Batman was to put this casting out into the world. I’ve mentioned it before on Twitter, but Jon Hamm is the perfect Harvey Dent to me. He’s good looking in a way that, when combined with the right attitude, makes him the smuggest guy in the room. If Don Draper had had a bottle of acid thrown in his face in the last episode of Mad Men, I would have been the most vindicated girl in the world.
If I had my way, Dent wouldn’t feature heavily in the film, but would be a figure prominent during the Blackgate breakout as a symbol of failure for Batman.
Continued belowThe Penguin: Toby Jones
Film adaptations of superhero comic books have a penchant for twisting the portrayals of famous characters just enough so that they are recognisable, but take on a whole new role within the world. I would love to do something like that with the Penguin and ditch the bird themed puns and the ever reliable story where he runs for mayor and instead position Cobblepot as a true gentlemen of crime. As the owner of the Iceberg Lounge nightclub, he’s untouchable. He’s the figurehead of the business who is present on the property ever night, but behind the facade is the most notorious information broker in Gotham.
A figure who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, he instead picks up information from every patron who flits through his lounge and sells it on to those who need it most. Even the Batman if needs are dire enough. And who better to manipulate all of Gotham under his wing than Toby Jones? And, I mean, it’s not like Arnim Zola is coming back any time soon.
Mister Freeze: Ralph Fiennes
Up until a last minute switcheroo, Jason Isaacs held this spot, but I think I’m happier with Fiennes here. In my ideal world, Fries would, much like Dent and the rogues that are to follow, only really come out to play in the film’s third act to menace Batman and Robin as they make their way through the gauntlet Black Mask has made out of Blackgate.
The idea is, like The LEGO Batman Movie and Spider-Verse, to populate the world with minor, recognisable villains who can be established in the world and have their moment in the spotlight, but aren’t the focus of the story. As much as I love Mr. Freeze, I don’t know if WB would let him headline a movie any time soon, even if it has been 20 years since Batman & Robin, but here we could do something really cool with him.
Poison Ivy: Laverne Cox
I’ll admit, this was a pick designed to piss a certain percentage of people off, but you know what? Sue me. Poison Ivy is a) an ecoterrorist who is sometimes genetically altered to be part plant and is on a quest to bid plant matter supersede humans as the dominant species on Earth and b) is often portrayed as a beautiful, voluptuous woman and the pinnacle of feminine wiles.
Laverne Cox certainly fulfils the latter of those two and, from what I’ve seen of her, could definitely live up to the legacy of the character.
Scarecrow: Mackenzie Crook
Mackenzie Crook has been my go-to Scarecrow ever since 2003 when I first saw Pirates Of The Caribbean. No one else in the world has quite matched him for gangly gormlessness (it’s a thing, I’m Scottish) to match the weird, off kilter profile of one Jonathan Crane. And the beauty is that he can pitch perfectly match the intelligent psychology professor persona of Crane and the intense, fear-driven psyche of the Scarecrow. Crook is one of Britain’s greatest living character actors and he’d be perfect in the role.
Killer Croc: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Like Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, this was a decision largely made for me. Despite my dislike for Suicide Squad, it has established Waylon Jones in this universe and so it is my wont to bring back Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. On one condition: Suicide Squad presented Croc as looking distinctly reptilian despite a penchant for hoodies and streetwear. This being nearly 20 years prior, I would have Jones be in the early stages of the skin condition that would transform him into Killer Croc. Still distinctly reptilian, but with more humanity on show. Bit like Lee Bermejo’s artistic interpretation of the character in “Joker.”
And there we have it, my vision for Matt Reeves’s The Batman. Assuredly, this is not the film that will come to pass, but, well, a gal can dream, can’t she? Let me know in the comments down below or on Twitter (@alicewcastle) what hypothetical comic book films you’d like to see me tackle next.
