Batman is one of the most popular characters in American history and it’s also one of the most coveted roles an actor can hope to be cast as.
The billionaire playboy by day and vigilante at night has a historical relevance like James Bond in film where they’ll never stop telling stories with different actors donning the roles.
And Warner Bros. just revealed which actor will portray the new Batman and many fans are furious with the casting choice.
Many famous actors have put on the bat suit over the years starting way back with Adam West, and then decades later with Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and most recently, Ben Affleck.
Some of those actors were good. Some were terrible. George Clooney considered it one of the worst mistakes of his career.
Affleck did three movies as the infamous character with, “Batman v Superman,” “Suicide Squad” and “The Justice League,” and when they went down the rabbit hole on the standalone project – one he planned to direct as well – Affleck and the studio had creative differences. Not too long after that, Affleck alerted the studio he wouldn’t reprise the role.
The studio was in the market for another actor to replace him.
Last week they revealed Robert Pattinson (“Twilight” franchise) was deep into negotiations to take over the coveted role in the standalone film directed by Matt Reeves (“Cloverfield”) that is slated to hit theaters on June 25th 2021.
Of course, Twitter exploded and many fans were disappointed with the casting choice pointing to how awful the “Twilight” movies were.
Here are some of the more popular roasts:
so robert pattinson as batman… pic.twitter.com/3H5ZJ6Ilyz
— shannon💭 (@mishaslight) May 17, 2019
.@JenAshleyWright: Why is Robert Pattinson trending, what did he do?
Me: He’s gonna play Batman!
Jen: What’s his superpower, being sad?
Me: …….. LITERALLY YES.
— Kibblesmith ☃️ (@kibblesmith) May 17, 2019
All we need now is Taylor Launter as #Robin😂😂#Batman#RobertPattinson
Art by camacam11 pic.twitter.com/pJ14W7kyoB
— Juan Hidalgo (@Jay86pr) May 17, 2019
This same thing happened when Michael Keaton was cast as the caped crusader in Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman.” “You mean the guy from Mr. Mom? He’s a horrible choice!”
But look how that turned out? Keaton is still arguably the best to play the character.
Many also said the same thing about Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”
But, again, look how that turned out? Ledger posthumously won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role.
People are beating Pattinson up largely because they only know him from the “Twilight” movies but in the last several years he’s taken on some dark roles and is actually really good – like for instance “Good Time” where a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in jail and Pattinson’s character embarks on a journey through New York City’s seedy crime underworld in order to bust him out of jail.