Some ten years before Zack Snyder (and Joss Whedon) assembled the Justice League, Warner Bros. enlisted Mad Max director George Miller to bring DC’s greatest superheroes together for a project titled Justice League Mortal.
The project was deep into pre-production when the studio ultimately decided to pull the plug on the movie, with Miller having assembled a cast that included Armie Hammer as Batman, D.J. Cotrona as Superman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Common as Green Lantern, Adam Brody as The Flash, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter, Teresa Palmer as Talia al Ghul and Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lord.
Speaking to Maltin on Movies (via Dark Horizons), actor Armie Hammer has been reflecting on his brief flirtation with the Dark Knight, revealing that he was hoping to embrace the character’s darkness with his portrayal:
“I wanted this Batman character to be so dark. I was like look, no one – and this was George’s idea as well, this was really in the script – but no one ever really shows how truly psychotic this man has to be. Like this is a guy who chooses to put on a costume, in all black, and sneak around at night and beat the shit out of people. Bruce Wayne was the mask that you never really see. I’m probably not supposed to be talking about this, but they took the job away so whatever! So even in times when he would be sitting around, like let’s say he had his batsuit off and all that, he would be sitting down with the thing, looking at the thing with the cowl on, because that’s where he felt the most comfortable in his own weird, twisted way. He was a neurotic, like borderline schizophrenic dude who didn’t trust a single person, including anyone in the Justice League, and had all the dirt on every single one of them, and was ready to take all of them down at the snap of a finger.”
SEE ALSO: Cancelled Justice League Mortal film would have featured a fight between Wonder Woman and Superman
Hammer has previously stated that – given his age when he was cast – he’s actually relieved he didn’t get to portray the Dark Knight in Justice League Mortal, as he “wouldn’t want to watch a 19-year-old Batman,” and based on his comments above, one has to wonder how a psychotic teenage Batman would have come across to audiences. Is it something you’d have liked to see? Do you think Hammer would make a good candidate to replace Ben Affleck if and when we get confirmation that he’s hanging up the cape and cowl? Let us know in the comments below…
