REPORT: Warner Bros. Wants an Older Actor to Play Batman in Its Superman/Batman Movie

With Superman getting younger in Man of Steel, many people assumed that Warner Bros. would pair him with a young Batman in their recently announced Superman/Batman movie. If the Justice League universe that Warner Bros. is building is based on the idea that Superman was the first superhero to reveal himself, it would only make sense that a young Bruce Wayne would see this as motivation don the iconic cowl and become Batman, right?

Well, not so fast. On Thursday, Batman on Film reported that studio was looking for an older Batman, saying "this new Batman will be a grizzled veteran who has been on the job, if you will, for several years." The site says that Warner Bros. is looking at actors in their late 30s or early 40s, rattling of a list of names to consider including "Josh Duhamel, Jude Law, Gerard Butler, Josh Brolin, Jon Hamm, Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Jim Caviezel."

OK, a few things about this news. First off, I'm not quite sure when the whole "older Batman" thing became late 30s to early 40s. Michael Keaton was 37 when Batman premiered and 40 for Batman Returns. Val Kilmer was 35 when Batman Forever opened. George Clooney was 36 when Batman and Robin hit theaters. The closest we've ever come to a "young" Batman was Christian Bale in Batman Begins. He was just 31 when that movie opened, but was then 34 when The Dark Knight premiered and finally 38 when The Dark Knight Rises arrived last summer. If late 30s to early 40s is Warner Bros.'s definition of an older Batman, we've almost always been living in that world.

Secondly, this news further proves that Warner Bros. has panicked and thrown its entire Justice League playbook out the window in a scared attempt to catch up to what Marvel has done with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since David Goyer and Zack Snyder began working on Man of Steel, we were told that Superman was the only superhero in this universe. How do we suddenly have a "grizzled veteran" Batman? I have serious concerns about the Superman/Batman movie.

And finally, way back in February there was the rumor floating around that Warner Bros. not only wanted Affleck to direct Justice League, but to also play Batman. Is that possibility still alive? Personally, I'd love to see Hamm tackle the role, even though I'd also like to someday see him as an older Superman along the lines of Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman. Oh, and then there's the fact that Bale will be 41 in 2015 when this movie is scheduled to debut. I wonder if he'd change his mind if Warner Bros. were to offer him Robert Downey Jr.-esque money.