Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling Are Possibly Frontrunners to Play Batman in Upcoming Superman/Batman Movie

Is the Gangster Squad about to claim the Batcave? Yesterday, we brought you the news that Warner Bros. was seeking an actor in his late 30s to early 40s to play a  "grizzled veteran" Batman "who has been on the job ... for several years." On Saturday, The Hollywood Reporter released a list of names that the studio was allegedly considering to be the next Batman. According to their report, Gangster Squad costars Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling are the two frontrunners for the role, with True Blood's Joe Manganiello (who was the runner-up for the Superman role in Man of Steel), The Hobbit's Richard Armitrage, Pacific Rim's Max Martini and Watchmen's Matthew Goode filling out the list.

As I mentioned yesterday, the whole idea of an older Batman doesn't quite make sense when you take into consideration that the actors who play Batman have always been in their late 30s. On top of that, Gosling is only 32, which would actually make him younger than everyone except for Christian Bale when Batman Begins premiered. Like most parts of this Man of Steel-sequel-turned-Justice League-expansion movie, I think we can chalk this up to Warner Bros. desperately trying to catch Marvel.

The Hollywood Reporter does qualify its story by noting that script for the Superman/Batman movie "is still being written, so nothing has been submitted formally to reps and actors. Two, according to sources, director Zack Snyder is only just beginning to look at actors."

I'm still pulling for Jon Hamm.