Gordon-Levitt Rumored to Don Batman's Cape and Cowl for "Justice League" Film

[CBR News]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is rumored to have signed a deal to appear as Batman in Warner Bros.' long-developing "Justice League" film, fueling speculation about a possible cameo in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel."


Full article here.

[weeji]

I like JGL, and would like it if this were true, sort of. I don't think "Robin" should be the Batman that appears in the JLA movie. Maybe they could retcon the Nolan movies, and just have him play Bruce Wayne.

[charlesjbaserap]

Ultimately, if you're going to have a movie like this, it really does need to be the original and most iconic one in the suit, especially since you'll likely be bringing in people who only know of a Bruce Wayne as Batman and haven't necessarily seen the Nolan movies.

The only time I didn't mind when they introduced a character in a different format was when they made John Stewart the GL in the Justice League cartoon. At the time, in 2001, Hal Jordan, the best known and original (GL Corps version), was still dead at this point and comic readers that were newer had no idea who he really was. It could have been Guy or Kyle, especially since Kyle was the main GL at the time, but John was fine.

But although Diana, Donna, Hippolyta and Artemis have been Wonder Woman, Bruce Wayne, Jean Paul Valley and Dick Grayson have been Batman, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen have been the Flash, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Simon Baz have been the GLs of Earth, and Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne have been Robin, there are certain names you associate with the roles and those should be kept constant.

I didn't mind him offering the stuff up as a way to give Blake a "constructive" outlet, but he got his ass handed to him by a weary old man in Commissioner Gordon. He's a good fighter, probably better than average, but Bruce trained in brutal overseas prisons for years and then from the League of Assassins. It wasn't like he up and decided one day after watching a pilates video that he was going to go fight crime. In the comics, the current continuity has him training for five years.

Nolan purposely went with a more grounded feel and as unrealistic as things were, basic plot wise, there's at least SOME semblance of reality that these things, or at least aspects of them--a guy being a vigilante, some nutjob painting his face and committing crimes, a psychiatrist going off the deep end, etc.--could conceivably happen in some capacity, so it doesn't make sense for them to place it in the same universe as all of these fantastic characters (ie, more mythical and the like), although we're also all assuming that DC/WB is going to actually pull their heads of their asses and put this together despite having exactly ONE marketable and successful comic movie franchise in the past 20+ years...

[DebkoX]

Now THIS is interesting.

[maskedmanissue1]

Ultimately, if you're going to have a movie like this, it really does need to be the original and most iconic one in the suit, especially since you'll likely be bringing in people who only know of a Bruce Wayne as Batman and haven't necessarily seen the Nolan movies.

The only time I didn't mind when they introduced a character in a different format was when they made John Stewart the GL in the Justice League cartoon. At the time, in 2001, Hal Jordan, the best known and original (GL Corps version), was still dead at this point and comic readers that were newer had no idea who he really was. It could have been Guy or Kyle, especially since Kyle was the main GL at the time, but John was fine.

But although Diana, Donna, Hippolyta and Artemis have been Wonder Woman, Bruce Wayne, Jean Paul Valley and Dick Grayson have been Batman, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen have been the Flash, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Simon Baz have been the GLs of Earth, and Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne have been Robin, there are certain names you associate with the roles and those should be kept constant.

I didn't mind him offering the stuff up as a way to give Blake a "constructive" outlet, but he got his ass handed to him by a weary old man in Commissioner Gordon. He's a good fighter, probably better than average, but Bruce trained in brutal overseas prisons for years and then from the League of Assassins. It wasn't like he up and decided one day after watching a pilates video that he was going to go fight crime. In the comics, the current continuity has him training for five years.

Nolan purposely went with a more grounded feel and as unrealistic as things were, basic plot wise, there's at least SOME semblance of reality that these things, or at least aspects of them--a guy being a vigilante, some nutjob painting his face and committing crimes, a psychiatrist going off the deep end, etc.--could conceivably happen in some capacity, so it doesn't make sense for them to place it in the same universe as all of these fantastic characters (ie, more mythical and the like), although we're also all assuming that DC/WB is going to actually pull their heads of their asses and put this together despite having exactly ONE marketable and successful comic movie franchise in the past 20+ years...

Give it a couple of hours before this rumour gets flatly denied. This is the weirdest, lousiest idea ever.

charlesjbaserap is spot on. No way we've been waiting forever to have a JL movie to have a complete unknown character, not even an actual Robin, play Batman. The Batman in the JL movie needs to be Bruce.

[Movieartman]

[SephirothDZX]

I'm torn on this, because I like JGL as an actor alot and I think he could do a good job as Batman

...but that means we wouldn't have Bruce Wayne in the Justice League movie. Because there's no way they'd have him play Batman and not have him be a continuation of John Blake.

[Phantom Roxas]

I'm actually okay with this, since it follows up on what the ending of The Dark Knight Rises suggested. However, that would imply that Man of Steel takes place in the same universe as Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, as would any potential films resulting from this, meaning we would have more comic book superheroics, which is not what Nolan's films were meant to be like.

[DebkoX]

Well, I'm just waiting till its confirmed, I hate jumping to conclussion, i NEED PROOF!

[Duke Togo]

Did it ever occur to anyone that it's a retcon Batman and he's playing Bruce Wayne?

[wildstorm3]

Well if it does turn out to be true, I am going to have to see a Prodigal type story first to see how well of a Batman he will be.

[midnightshrink]

I love JGL but unless they flat out come and say he is playing Bruce Wayne this idea simply means WB definitely has no fucking idea what they are doing. "Let's do Justice League and rush it because Disney is kicking our ass with the Avengers so let's not include Bruce Wayne as Batman..."

[Jabare]

[idlewildered]

Did it ever occur to anyone that it's a retcon Batman and he's playing Bruce Wayne?

no, you're the only person to have come up with that I imagine......... seriously though, JGL won't be Batman. He's not the type of actor to go just for a payday, seems to think more about the type of work he wants to do and taking on this role would have so many potential pitfalls.

[Jabare]

no, you're the only person to have come up with that I imagine......... seriously though, JGL won't be Batman. He's not the type of actor to go just for a payday, seems to think more about the type of work he wants to do and taking on this role would have so many potential pitfalls.

that's a pretty presumptuous statement. We don't really know one way or another. He might think the movie will be good and we don't know how much money he is being offered.


This still reeks of a rumor though. Why start casting people without a director set. Sure Superman might be set if Man of Steel does well, but unless you can some how entice Christian Bale, why pull the trigger on this.