Reacher‘s Alan Ritchson admits he wants to be a big, beefy Batman
"I want to be Bruce Wayne!" the Reacher star effused in a recent interview
Aux News Reacher
Amazon’s resident ass kicker Jack Reacher isn’t all that far off from being a superhero as-is—especially not as played by Reacher star Alan Ritchson, a man whose biggest issue, most of the time, is making it look at least halfway plausible that he could lose the numerous bloody brawls his character gets into. So it’s not all that surprising to hear that Ritchson has some genuine superhero ambitions of his own… even if his hero of choice is, if we’re being honest, a little hard for us to imagine.
“I want to be Bruce Wayne!” Ritchson declared in a recent (very cute) interview with THR, when asked the frankly absurd question of whether he’d want to play Batman or The Joker. (We can’t even begin to imagine the latter; just doesn’t fit in our brains.) And, yes, it’s very easy to draw parallels between Reacher and The Batman—both of whom fight with their brains as much as their fists, and have a very liberal attitude toward hospitalizing people who make bad decisions re: trying to shoot them. There’s a natural fit there, undeniably—and yet we can’t help imagining Ritchson-as-Dark-Knight emerging from the shadows for the first time…and hearing “Holy shit, is that giant, mega-buff billionaire Bruce Wayne in a bat costume?”
(The irony, of course, being that Ritchson was up for the most Alan Ritchson-obvious superhero role in the past—Marvel’s Thor—and, by his own account, totally blew it by not taking the audition seriously.)
But maybe we’re just being small minded (everyone is, in comparison to the 6'3" Ritchson!), because we can absolutely see him having fun in the role. (The calm, almost unflappable approach he brings to violence on Reacher would actually be pretty fantastic in a superhero flick.) Later in the interview, though, he does note that he’s not very good at staying up late—and notes that his most beloved Christian Bale film role is apparently Newsies—so we don’t know how well he’ll actually adapt to being a creature of the night.
That being said, we loaded up a 10-minute Prime Video compilation of him just kicking unholy ass on Reacher while writing this article and now we can’t stop watching it, so what the fuck do we know? Bring on the big, beefy Batman.
34 Comments
‘I’d like a big, prestigious job that pays a lot,’ says freelancer.
I’ve thought he’d be a perfect TAS/more traditional comic Batman for awhile now. That’s the one iteration I feel like we haven’t seen live action. Affleck was the closet thing but of course Snyder turned him into Murderman.
He’s big enough to pass as a former football player, blonde and funny. Make him the DCU’s Booster Gold?
Yes, yes, yes, I approve. Of anyone playing Booster Gold because I want a Booster Gold movie. It absolutely has the best possibility for a comedy/superhero movie since the GOTG movies The Suicide Squad.
You’re in luck. I’m pretty sure Gunn’s already announced that a booster gold project is in the world. I think it’s a TV show?
Or put him in a Batman movie as Amygdala (though even at 6’4″, he’s still thirty-two inches shy of the canonical height).
Me too.
He’s been saying this for years now. Heard Kevin Smith excitedly talking about it on one his podcasts a while back, and I tend to agree. Alan would be fantastic.
I’d watch that.
He could also be Bane to Robert Pattinson’s Batman, or Mr Freeze if they wanted to go in that direction.
I’m going to be that guy, I apologize in advance.It’s time to stop whitewashing Bane. He’s supposed to be Colombian, it’s time to stop casting white guys to play the role. I say this as someone that is a big fan of Alan Ritchson.
On one hand, it’s preferable to cast shows with people of the character’s culture/sexuality/disability/etc. if only to give more people more opportunities, but also because I’d argue it can provide some authenticity.
On the other hand, casting shows is a messy thing. Syncing-up different people’s schedules is hard. The director may want to work with specific people. And there’s something to be said that a composer doesn’t have to come from, say, Russia to write orchestral music in a Russian style, so neither do actors. In short, in art there can be room for all interpretations.
Pared with Gunn’s writing, I think Alan Ritchson could actually be the most comic accurate Batman ever. He is the right age for an older (but not old) Batman and he is great at fight scenes. As seen on Reacher, he can brood like the best of them, but he also has the dry comedic chops that will be required in the lighter-toned DCU. He has the height & build of the character and looks right in a cowl (he played Hawk on Titans). Reacher also proves that he can play a convincing hero to kids and the downtrodden. Plus, he can sing, so he could recreate JLU’s “Am I Blue” moment in live-action. His career and intentions seem like their in a good place, so why not? Seems like an easy layup.
Dry comedy out of Batman would be great. I don’t think a movie version could go full Adam West but I think we could stand to ease up on the brooding bat
I think my dream Batman movie is Affleck as Batman, Matt Damon as Robin – with Kevin Smith writing and directing. I just want Affleck heaving a goon off a third-storey fire escape and Damon casually leaning over, chewing gum “Hey, I thought we weren’t killin’ anyone?” and Affleck bickering with him.
Bruce Wayne : …It’s not who I am underneath… but what I *do*… that defines me.Rachel Dawes : …and that is?Bruce Wayne : [singing] Noinch, Noinch, Noinch, Schmokin Weed, Schmokin’ Weed, Doin’ Coke, Drinkin’ Beers, Rollin’ fattys, smokin’ blunts, Who smokes the blunts? We smoke the blunts.
Alfred Pennyworth: Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men they are just like a truck, BERZERKER! Some men just want to making fuck, BERZERKER!
I mean, when Snyder wasn’t involved we kind of got a comedic Batman from Affleck.
Yes! I actually enjoyed the theatrical version of JL mostly because of Affleck’s more lighthearted take on Batman in it, it’s a shame we didn’t get more of that.
I hope we still do get that someday. Even Kevin Conroy got a few funny moments as Batman. Particularly in Justice League Action during a flashback to his first years when he couldn’t throw a grappling hook.
We absolutely did, in The Flash.
True, but still not enough.
Keaton was great because he was unexpected.This is the most lily-ass boring possibility. Doesn’t mean he’d be bad at it, just dully obvious.
Batman has been drawn many different ways through out the years. The movie versions always leaned into the more leaner physique. Not tiny or weak by any means but more wiry dudes. Affleck being the only one that pushed a bit into the more beefy Batman. I think a 6’ 3” meat head who also isn’t a half bad actor may not be a bad change of pace. Especially if the Gunn DC version leans a little less on the dark and brooding and leans more into the humor and camp
And you could play that size difference to great effect considering he’d be starring opposite a kid.
I think “isn’t a half bad actor” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. I doubt I’ll be seeing any of the Gunn DC stuff with any more enthusiasm than whatever new MCU mess we get so who GAF about my opinion anyway, really. One of my social media profiles threw a “member this?” post my way recently and it was my excited reaction to the Avengers trailer. Oh how far I’ve come from that. I greet just about every new superhero project with dread now. If it wasn’t such a good cast and produced by Eric Kripke I doubt I’d even still be watching The Boys. I watch Invincible only because I like the cast and I really liked the comic when I read it.
A 6’2″, 230 pound Bruce Wayne with the physique of a pro wrestler is “obvious”?Don’t you find it kind of weird that they’ve never cast someone like that as Bruce Wayne before?
Is it possible the super hero genre has been completely played out? Just putting that out there.
Batman is played out and has been at least since Heath Ledger copied Jack Nicholson’s performance but cranked it to 11. Superhero stuff in general is just getting good now that Marvel is messing around with multiverse stuff.
“Heath Ledger copied Jack Nicholson’s Joker” sure is a take. Not a good one, but it is one for sure.
It’s Nicholson’s Joker turned up to 11, not some kind of crazy special performance like everyone seems to think it is. Aaron Eckhart’s Two Face is the standout villain of the movie, honestly.
Sorry not sorry.
Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze. Dude is perfect for that role, and has anyone attempted filming Doc? It’s be awesome.
I think Dwayne Johnson had his eye on Doc Savage for a while, but that was years ago.
We can only hope Black Adam opened the door for someone else to snag that role away from him.
I dunno… I think he’d look hideous in blackface and a blue haircut.