Alan Ritchson has spoken with James Gunn about playing Batman in the DC Universe — but he doesn’t think he’ll be playing the iconic role.
The star of the Reacher series revealed that he’d spoken with the architect of DC’s new movie universe in an interview with Variety.
"It's not a rumor that James Gunn is a fan," Ritchson said. "He said it himself. And am I a fan of James Gunn? Absolutely. I don't want to mislead people. Words have been exchanged about Batman."
While that sounds like a positive thing to say, Ritchson let his supporters down easily by suggesting that he won’t be taking up the iconic Bat-shaped helmet. “I strongly don’t think that Batman is in my future.”
Ritchson did leave the door open on whether he’ll play another role in the DCU, though. “I do think there is something in my future with DC,” he said. “And I would like that to remain true.”
Back in March, Ritchson had expressed his interest in playing Batman on the big screen.
“I get asked every day if I’m playing Batman,” he said in an interview with Wired. “Would I play Batman? Yes. Would I pay handsomely to be Batman? You wouldn’t even have to pay me to be Batman. I would don the suit.”
Gunn, who recently kicked off the new DCU by writing and directing the latest Superman film, was asked about Ritchson playing Batman while on an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast in July.
"I am a big Alan Ritchson fan, both as an actor and as a guy," Gunn said. "Let's just wait to see what happens."
The director then made it clear that he isn’t ready to cast a new Batman just yet since the DCU’s first Batman project is still pretty far away in the pipeline.
"Sure, there's people out there I think about, but let's see where the script comes in," he said. "It's not the farthest-along thing. We have things that are much, much further along."
Ritchson isn’t the only actor to seemingly be out of the running for Batman. In a recent interview with PelucheEn ElEstuche, Gunn revealed that Chris Pratt will not play Batman in the DCU.