After Zack Snyder kicked off the DC Extended Universe with Man of Steel, he needed to cast two more actors to join Henry Cavill’s Superman in his follow-up Batman v Superman to round out DC Comics’ holy trinity as Batman and Wonder Woman. This casting process wasn’t easy. This was the first time the trio was united on the big screen in a live-action movie.
Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot ended up being the perfect choices to play the DCEU’s older, grizzled Dark Knight and fierce, ass-kicking Diana Prince, respectively, but they weren’t the only actors considered for the roles.
Batman: Christian Bale
When Zack Snyder brought up the idea of doing Batman v Superman as the sequel to Man of Steel, some executives at Warner Bros. were interested in connecting the movie to The Dark Knight trilogy and wanted to bring back Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne.
Snyder was so eager to give the movie his own take on Batman that he considered casting Bale as a different character just to make it clear to audiences that BvS had nothing to do with Christopher Nolan’s movies.
Wonder Woman: Angelina Jolie
Long before the dawn of the DCEU finally paved the way for a Wonder Woman movie to hit screens, there were a ton of Wonder Woman movie projects that failed to launch over the years. Angelina Jolie was up for the lead role in one of them.
Other actors considered to play Wonder Woman in these unrealized projects include Mischa Barton, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Rachel Bilson, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Eva Green, Christina Hendricks, Kristen Stewart, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Batman: Josh Brolin
Before Ben Affleck was cast as Bruce Wayne, the role was offered to Josh Brolin. While Brolin would’ve been perfect for Zack Snyder’s grizzled take on the Bat, he’s since said that he’s glad he didn’t take the part in BvS.
Brolin went on to play two major Marvel Comics roles in 2018, the cosmic warlord Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and the time-traveling antihero Cable in Deadpool 2.
Wonder Woman: Cobie Smulders
Cobie Smulders, best known for playing Robin in nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother, was considered to play Diana Prince in a pre-DCEU Wonder Woman movie project that never got off the ground.
Instead of playing Wonder Woman in live-action, Smulders voiced her in The LEGO Movie and its sequel. She’s also been playing S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the MCU since 2012’s The Avengers.
Batman: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan has said that when he was filming Watchmen with Zack Snyder, the director talked about wanting to adapt The Dark Knight Returns and promised to cast him as Batman if it ever came to fruition.
However, when Snyder did adapt The Dark Knight Returns as Batman v Superman, Morgan wasn’t given the role. Instead, he was cast as Batman’s father Thomas Wayne in the opening flashback.
Wonder Woman: Jaimie Alexander
Warner Bros. initially approached Jaimie Alexander about possibly playing Wonder Woman in the DCEU, but she had to turn down the part due to her commitments to playing Lady Sif in the MCU.
Turning down the role of Wonder Woman to keep playing Sif must’ve made it even more disappointing for Alexander when Marvel sidelined Sif.
Batman: Jon Hamm
The producers of Batman v Superman offered the role of Bruce Wayne to Jon Hamm prior to casting Ben Affleck. Hamm was right at the end of Mad Men’s seven-season run when BvS was going into production, so he would’ve jumped straight from one long-term commitment to another.
While playing Batman is a great move for anyone’s career, Hamm has had no trouble getting work post-Mad Men, starring in Keeping Up with the Joneses, Baby Driver, and Bad Times at the El Royale.
Wonder Woman: Élodie Yung
Before Gal Gadot was cast as Wonder Woman, Élodie Yung was on the shortlist for the role. Although she didn’t get to play Wonder Woman, Yung did get to play a different superhero, Elektra, for Marvel in the Netflix series Daredevil and The Defenders, which are still more than worth watching despite Disney making them obsolete in relation to the movies.
Since Gadot was cast in the role before Patty Jenkins was hired to direct her first solo movie, Jenkins initially objected to Gadot’s casting. However, she eventually came to realize that she’s perfect for the part.
Batman: Scott Adkins
Early in the development of Batman v Superman, Scott Adkins auditioned for the role of Bruce Wayne. He later said that he didn’t land the part because, as an Oscar winner, Ben Affleck was always going to be the guy.
Before Affleck was cast at the Caped Crusader, the producers also considered Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, and Luke Evans for the part.
Wonder Woman: Olga Kurylenko
Along with Élodie Yung, Olga Kurylenko was one of the runners-up to play Wonder Woman. Kurylenko began her career as a model at age 13 after being discovered in Moscow, then moved to Paris at age 16 to continue her modeling career.
She moved into acting in 2005 and, although she didn’t clinch the role of Diana Prince, she’s played a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace and starred alongside Tom Cruise in Oblivion.