There's an old saying: always be yourself… unless you can be Batman.
"What are you?!"
"I'm Batman."
But not everyone who's considered for the role of Batman gets the chance, and not everyone
who's offered the chance actually takes it.
Over the years, a lot of stars have been considered for the role of the caped crusader for both
television and film, and a lot of fans have been left wondering what might have been.
Here's a look at some actors who were almost cast as Batman.
Cillian Murphy
For his 2005 reboot Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan saw as many as a dozen up-and-coming
actors.
Among them was Irish actor and 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy.
He recalls having an "awkward" audition and screen test in which he read his lines while
wearing a complete Batman suit.
He didn't get that part, but Nolan was impressed enough with his performance that he cast him
in Batman Begins as the Scarecrow.
Seems like a pretty good choice.
Josh Hartnett
Josh Hartnett was one of the actors Nolan considered early on to star in Batman Begins.
But Hartnett, one of the biggest young male stars of the early 2000s, pulled his own name
from consideration out of fears he would be typecast as a superhero, a decision he told
Playboy that he greatly regrets now.
"Watching Christian Bale go on to do so many other things has been just awesome.
I mean, he’s been able to overcome that.
Why couldn’t I see that at the time?"
Armie Hammer
In 2007, Warner Bros. was all set to film a Justice League movie, and though they already
had a Batman in the form of Christian Bale, director George Miller decided to cast someone
else in the role.
That someone: Armie Hammer, three years before his breakout appearance in The Social Network.
Justice League ended up being scrapped due to the Writers Guild of America strike, which
Hammer told Yahoo!
Movies he's actually grateful for.
"I would have made a terrible Batman.
Really terrible.
It's too young.
No-one wants to see a 19-year-old Batman.
What can a 19-year-old do?
It'd be like his parents had just been shot last weekend."
Josh Brolin
The No Country for Old Men and Jonah Hex star met with Man of Steel director Zack Snyder
when it was decided that the plans for the next Superman movie would include Superman
fighting the Dark Knight.
After that concept morphed into Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Snyder and Brolin
ultimately both decided it wasn't a good fit, and Brolin moved on to the Marvel universe
as their ultimate boogeyman, Thanos.
Wes Bentley
As Batman vs. Superman took shape, former Batman boss Christopher Nolan suggested his
Interstellar star Wes Bentley for the role.
Best known for American Beauty, The Hunger Games, and American Horror Story on TV, Bentley
ultimately was passed over.
"What do you mean?"
Instead, Ben Affleck got the role.
Poor Ben...
Bill Murray
It sounds crazy, but back in the mid-80's, Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman was amongst
a handful of directors considered by Warner Bros. to develop a big-screen vehicle for
Batman.
Reitman's choice for the lead role?
Ghostbusters star Bill Murray, with Eddie Murphy reportedly in the running as Robin.
With the comic book version of Batman enjoying a revival thanks to grim and gritty stories
like The Dark Knight Returns, though, Warner Bros. ultimately opted against the comedic
route in favor of Tim Burton's dark and manic vision.
Pierce Brosnan
The future James Bond was on director Tim Burton's short list for the role of the Dark
Knight in his 1989 film version of Batman.
But as the actor explained in a Reddit AMA, he met with Burton and just couldn't see himself
in the role because he thought it was all rather silly, saying:
"Any man who wears his underpants outside his pants just cannot be taken seriously."
And it'd be a shame for Brosnan to do anything that couldn't be taken seriously.
Not to mention how preposterous the Batmobile is, right?
Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta had just starred in his first movie — Something Wild, in 1986 — when his agent
got a call saying Tim Burton was interested in auditioning him for the lead role of Batman.
He declined even the chance to meet with Burton, something he says he still regrets.
Don't feel too sorry for Liotta, though.
He opted to make the Oscar-nominated classic Goodfellas instead.
"Ahahhahaha!"
Alec Baldwin
No less a film authority than Quentin Tarantino once said that Alec Baldwin would have made
a great Batman in the 1980s.
And it almost happened!
Like Pierce Brosnan, Baldwin was being considered for Tim Burton's Batman, having worked with
the director on his previous movie, Beetlejuice.
But another Beetlejuice star, Beetlejuice himself, Michael Keaton, wound up with the
part, making Baldwin one of the ultimate what-ifs in Batman history.
"You're working with a professional here!"
He did get a consolation prize though: the lead role in the 1994 flop The Shadow, which
he's still trying to get people to forget.
William Baldwin
When both director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton opted to not return for the third Batman
movie, new director Joel Schumacher was hired to helm Batman Forever.
And he brought along his own ideas about who should star.
His choices: Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Day-Lewis, Val Kilmer, and William "Billy" Baldwin, Alec's
younger brother.
"Hey hey quick question Jack: our underwear?
Is it regular black bikini cut or is it silk boxers with Tweety Bird on em, cause I have
both."
Baldwin auditioned for Schumacher, who told him that he'd been the first choice…but
that Warner Bros. executives preferred Val Kilmer.
Billy eventually got his day in the sun voicing Batman for several animated projects.
"We both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back at us, you blinked."
David Duchovny
Like Michael Keaton before him, Val Kilmer walked away from the cape and cowl after Batman
Forever.
"Can I persuade you to take a sandwich with you sir?"
"I'll get drive-thru."
Warner Bros. had to scramble to find an actor to star in 1997's Batman & Robin.
The choice came down to two emerging TV stars: George Clooney of ER and David Duchovny of
The X-Files.
Clooney ultimately got the role...and promptly put the franchise into a decade long deep
freeze.
"No sign of the snow man."
"Maybe he melted."
"No, he's just hibernating."
Looks like Duchovny had the last laugh.
Lyle Waggoner
Finally, no Batman list would be complete without a look at the 1966 TV series.
When ABC was putting together the campy classic, producers looked at potential Batmen and Robins
as duos.
"Holy multitudes!"
The final two options came down to Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell, or Adam West and Burt Ward.
West and Ward got the parts, of course, while Waggoner went on to co-star on The Carol Burnett
Show.
Who knows how this one would've turned out?
If Waggoner had won the role, the show might have bombed.
"Somedays you just can't get rid of a bomb!"
Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch more videos like the one you just saw.
And leave us a comment to let us know which of these stars would have made the best Batman…