Hitfix reported yesterday that Warner Brothers is in negotiations with Joseph Gordon Levitt to be Batman in the Justice League film they are planning to release in the summer of 2015. In addition, it was also speculated that JGL will show up, along with another character from Nolan's Batverse, at the end of Man of Steel, the Nolan produced relaunch of Superman. This appearance by JGL and the other Gotham City character (cough...Gordon...cough) will be used as a way to start to create a shared DC universe and lay some groundwork for Justice League.
Not surprisingly within hours of this rumor surfacing. reps for JGL told several sites that their client has not been approached by Warner Brothers in any way and that the story on Hitflix is false.
Now I trust the author of this piece and believe he did all his due diligence in obtaining and verifying this information. I have read his blog posts for some time now both on Hitflix and before that on AintItCoolNews when he went by the pen name of Moriarty. Over all that time, he was right many more times than he was wrong when he reported material of a similar nature to this. So I am gonna say this is something that probably will happen and I could see it announced within the next month or so.
With that said, is this indeed a good idea? And more importantly, will the fans of Batman, DC, and Justice League like this at all?
The answer to the first question in my opinion is yes, for the most part. I will admit here and now that there will be a part of me that will be sad to not see Bruce Wayne as Batman in a Justice League film. I mean Bruce is Batman in my humble opinion. No one else should wear the cape and cowl.
However, having John Blake inherit the mantle of Batman makes perfect sense in Christopher Nolan's film series. Nolan's Bruce always believed his time as Batman was going to a be a short one. He was always looking for a way out, a path to a "normal" life. Nolan's Bruce came to realize he could never be the most effective, more perfect version of his symbol, Batman. Then John Blake came along and Bruce realized he had found someone who could better realize his vision.
By having John Blake be The Batman in Justice League WB is doing something it desperately needs to right now: creating a shared DC universe. In addition, they get the bonus of being able to tie this shared DC universe to Christopher Nolan's highly successful, read:lucrative, Batman series. Yet another thing I am sure they desperately want. While some might not like it, this is the easiest path Warner Bros can take to avoid casting yet another actor as Bruce Wayne and undermining any sense of continuity with the character of Batman and the universe as a whole.
In my opinion, this move just makes sense from both a business and story telling perspective. Bring back Bale, you might say? Well there are alot of problems with that idea. First, you would have to get Bale to come back to play the character, which would require the proverbial Brinks truck. Second, and much more important, you would have to spend valuable screen time in Justice League explaining Bruce's reasons for coming out of retirement. Screen time that should be better spend introducing and establishing the other members of The Justice League. Characters like Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman.
No, bringing Bale back as Bruce/Batman at this point just does not work. However, there is no saying they could not have Bale come back as Bruce/Batman later on. They could establish John Blake and his version of Batman first. Then perhaps have something massive and catastrophic happen and have Blake perhaps die. Then Clark Kent comes to the older and happily retired Bruce asking for him to reassume the role of Batman. You throw in some shadows of The Dark Knight Returns and you could be in for a pretty good movie.
Now let us take a look and answer my second question, will the fans be happy with this choice by Warner Bros? The answer to that question is no. Let's be honest right now, there are many fans out there who feel about Batman the way I do, i.e. Bruce is the only Batman. I can see these people becoming angry over not seeing Bruce as Batman in Justice League, many of which will cry out that they feel cheated, that WB is committing sacrilege, and more broadly that Justice League will be a terrible film as a result.
However, if the Justice League film that is made is very good, then I could see these same fans changing their positions to come back to the middle a bit. Sure they won't like Blake as Batman, but they will accept it if the story that is told is good. That is the key for Warner Bros here, make the best Justice League film that you possibly can. The rest will work itself out after. There are so many comic geeks who have hoped for a Justice League film to be made, that if it ends up being a great story as well, there will be rejoicing among fandom in general.
Like it or hate it, you can not say that Warner Bros is not thinking alittle outside of the box with this decision. That I can respect. We should know more about this within the next month or two I would imagine. Until then, try and imagine the kid from 3rd Rock From the Sun being Batman and how truly interesting that will be not only for the end of Man of Steel, but to the eventual Justice League film as well. Of if you feel more daring, imagine just who the hell is gonna train Blake to become a one man fighting machine.
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