Josh Brolin is looking back to the time when he almost became Batman in the DCEU. After Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, Warner Bros. began working with Zack Snyder to create a shared cinematic universe similar to the MCU. The DCEU began in 2013 with Snyder's Man of Steel before a new version of Batman was introduced in the following movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Ben Affleck faced scrutiny when he was first cast as Batman, but the actor would return for Justice League, reshoots for Zack Snyder's Justice League, and is also coming back as Bruce Wayne in 2023's The Flash.
Brolin has had a successful acting career, but his comic book movie roles have been some of his most successful. Brolin had a starring role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as the Mad Titan Thanos. During his stint in the MCU, Brolin also appeared alongside Ryan Reynolds in 2018's Deadpool 2 as the time-traveling mercenary Cable. While Brolin has seen the most success from appearing in Marvel movies over DC adventures like Jonah Hex, Brolin was being considered to play Bruce Wayne in Batman v Superman. That being said, his Batman casting was only in the early stages of discussion before Affleck was cast.
Brolin briefly mentioned his near Batman casting while on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz. The actor confirms that it was Snyder's decision not to move forward on his casting but that he found the role interesting. Brolin continues that his version would have been an older and more raspy version of Batman, which Horowitz compared to Frank Miller's version of Batman in The Dark Knight Returns. Brolin's full comment can be read below:
Yeah. That was interesting to me. That was his decision. That wasn't my decision. That was his 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. 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, you know, 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's hard to tell how the DCEU would have turned out had Brolin been cast because, after all, Batman v Superman didn't fail specifically because of Affleck's portrayal of the Caped Crusader. That being said, it might have been better for Brolin that Snyder didn't move forward with him. While the DCEU and Snyder both have a passionate fanbase, it's no secret that DC movies have struggled to make an impact on both audiences and critics. This fact could have also tied into Brolin's previous comments on not playing Batman, where he revealed he was "really glad it didn't happen."
Even though Brolin didn't end up playing Batman, it's still possible he could one day put on the cape and cowl. Michael Keaton and Affleck are both playing Batman in The Flash due to the film's multiverse storyline. Robert Pattinson is also playing a different version of Batman since Warner Bros. has been more focused on making solid standalone projects instead of a giant cinematic universe like Marvel. Since the studio clearly doesn't have a problem with multiple actors playing the same character at once, a Dark Knight Returns-style story with Brolin shouldn't be completely ruled out as a possibility.
Source: Happy Sad Confused
