‘Reacher’ star Alan Ritchson has revealed that he is desperate to take on the role of Batman in the DC Universe.
Alan Ritchson wants to play Batman.
The 42-year-old actor has already proved he can handle blockbuster action roles through his star turn in Prime Video’s ‘Reacher’ series and has now revealed he is desperate to play the Caped Crusader in a film for DC Studios.
During an appearance in WIRED’s ‘Autocomplete Interview’ video series, he said: “Would I play Batman? Yes.
“Would I pay handsomely to be Batman? You wouldn’t even have to pay me to be Batman.
“I would, yeah, I would don the suit. [In a Batman voice] ‘Gotham is mine.’ Look at that. I don’t even have to practice. It just comes out naturally.”
There had been whispers that Ritchson was being lined up to play the Dark Knight in the DC Universe (DCU), but studio head James Gunn had shut down the rumours.
However, that hasn’t stopped ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ star from being bombarded with questions by eager fans about his potential involvement with the character.
He said: “What’s amazing to me about this rumour of the Batman desire and the zeitgeist, is the fact that James Gunn has personally announced publicly on his Twitter or X or whatever, ‘LOL, he’s not playing Batman. He is not playing Batman!’
“And this thing will not die. I get asked every day if I’m playing Batman.”
The Caped Crusader is set to get his grand introduction in the DCU with ‘The Brave and the Bold’, though no actor is attached to the role yet.
The idea of ‘The Batman’ star Robert Pattinson – who portrays the hero in Matt Reeves’ separate movie series – being folded into the DCU and playing the character in ‘The Brave and the Bold’ had been floated, but Gunn has since extinguished this theory.
He told Variety: “I wouldn’t rule anything out. He could show up in something else. But the actor doesn’t exist [yet].”
The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ filmmaker added that he and his co-DC head Peter Safran haven’t had any “serious conversations” about bringing Pattinson’s Batman over to the DCU.
He said: “Have we ever talked about Robert Pattinson? Yeah. We’ve talked about all those things. But serious conversations? No.”
‘The Brave and the Bold’ is expected to centre on the father-son dynamic between Batman and his accomplice Robin and will be helmed by ‘The Flash’ director Andy Muschietti.
While Gunn seems uncertain about Pattison’s DCU future, ‘The Batman’ director Matt Reeves hasn’t ruled out the possibility his Caped Crusader could transition over to the mainline superhero universe.
During an appearance on the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast, he said: “It really comes down to whether it makes sense.
“There was a story I wanted to tell. The epic crime saga. It’s been important to me to play that out and James and Peter have been really great about that. They are letting us do that.
“What the future brings, I can’t really tell you. I have no idea.”
Reeves added he was currently more focused on ‘The Batman: Part II’, which is slated to enter production later this year.
He said: “My head is down right now on getting ‘The Batman Part II’ shooting, which is the most important thing.”
Alan Ritchson: You wouldn’t even have to pay me to be Batman
