Ever since the smoke cleared around The Batman, with Ben Affleck dropping out as director amid rumors that he was also looking to pull away from the role and his script for the coming film, there’s been little news regarding DC Films’ efforts to reboot the character for his first standalone outing since The Dark Knight Rises. (Last we heard, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves had signed on to replace Affleck in the director’s chair and the script was being rewritten.)
(Read: Batman v Deathstroke: Could the Dark Knight’s Latest Villain Help Ben Affleck’s Solo Film?)
Although The Batman won’t be released until sometime in 2019 (maybe), it’s about time for the first rumblings of casting rumors to begin. After all, a Caped Crusader is only as good as his sidekicks and villains. Joe Manganiello was cast as Deathstroke back in September while Affleck was still directing, but recently appeared unsure if he was still in the movie. However, DC may have already lined up a replacement, as Josh Gad took to Twitter earlier today to drop an interesting tease:
It’s too early to say if this could be an early rumor, or if Gad’s doing the kind of public fishing for a juicy part that eventually got Ryan Reynolds his own superhero franchise. At the very least, it’s an intriguing tease, as Gad’s natural theatricality would make him an interesting fit for a few different iterations of Oswald Cobblepot. Plus, if Reeves’ work on the Apes movies can be taken as any indication, The Batman could skew a little closer to the plausible darkness Christopher Nolan brought to the series, making the Penguin’s brutality an even better match for Affleck’s violence-prone Bat.
Whether The Batman even comes to exist as part of the current DC initiative remains to be seen; if Wonder Woman doesn’t bring some success to the DC/WB camp next month, it’ll be a major step closer to the point of true crisis for the fledgling film universe. But with the talent on hand, and the possibility of Gad chewing some scenery in the Danny DeVito tradition,The Batman is going to be something worth keeping tabs on.
