Christian Bale Almost Made His DC Movie Debut Years Before Batman Begins

Christian Bale reinvented Bruce Wayne and his caped persona for a newer generation in Batman Begins, but the Oscar-winner was very close to essaying the role of another quintessential DC hero. While Bale broke out as a child star in movies like Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, the English actor took on challenging and diverse roles in the late 1990s and early 2000s. From playing a mild-mannered music journalist in the glam-rock classic Velvet Goldmine to the reckless namesake of American Psycho, Bale was already a critics’ heartthrob even before he was cast in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

The Ford vs. Ferrari star debuted as Batman in 2005’s Batman Begins, but a few years earlier, another superhero opportunity landed in his lap, but the ambitious DC movie was eventually canceled. Still, it’s all for the best that this hypothetical scenario never became a reality, for it might have prevented Bale from being cast as the Caped Crusader. When compared to other live-action Batman actors, Bale’s version stands out with his distinctly raspy Batman voice and emotionally complex psyche. The way Bale humanized Gotham City’s vigilante could have been reflected way back by another hero closely linked to Batman.

Christian Bale Was Almost Superman Before His Batman Casting

Bale Was Eyed To Play The Man Of Steel In An Early 2000s Batman/Superman Movie

The late German director Wolfgang Petersen broke out with his claustrophobic submarine-set drama Das Boot. But the two-time Oscar nominee also had a knack for helming big-budget spectacles like The NeverEnding Story and Troy. In 2003, Wolfgang Petersen was roped in to direct a Batman vs. Superman film with Christian Bale as Superman. The filmmaker revealed this behind-the-scenes detail in a 2010 interview with MTV, adding that Josh Hartnett was the second candidate to be considered to play the Kryptonian hero. Unfortunately, the project never saw the light of day and JJ Abrams had a role behind the film’s axing.

While Petersen pitched a cinematic face-off between Batman and Superman way before Zack Snyder in 2015, Warner Bros. prioritized a solo Superman movie with a new actor instead. The plan was to pick up JJ Abrams’ early script for Superman Returns. Titled Superman: Flyby, the script drastically rewrote the character’s origins, and the project was reshaped as Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns instead. Petersen gave up hope for Bale’s Superman moment but had nothing but praise for his subsequent Batman era. He even told MTV how he believed Bale’s second Batman outing, The Dark Knight, deserved an Oscar for Best Picture.

How Christian Bale’s Superman Role Would’ve Changed DC’s Movie Landscape

Batman Vs Superman: Asylum Could Have Spawned A DCEU-like Franchise

In the early 2000s, DC only had a misfire like Catwoman and canceled projects like Tim Burton’s Superman movie to flaunt. Christopher Reeve was no longer the glorious Superman of the 80s, and Joel Schumacher had turned Batman into a comedic property in the 90s. In this context, Christian Bale’s Batman vs. Superman movie would have spawned a new interconnected franchise akin to the DCEU movies that came later. Titled Batman vs. Superman: Asylum, Petersen’s project was also driven by a dark story that would have humanized the titular heroes much like what Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movies finally achieved.

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman told Collider that the project eventually roped in Colin Farrell as Batman and Jude Law as Superman. The script roughly dealt with a retired Batman exacting violent revenge on the Joker and Lex Luthor for killing his wife. Believing that Batman is not a killer, Superman intervened for a more righteous solution and a face-off between the two heroes ensued. Regardless of whether Bale, Harnett, or Law played Superman, the canceled project could have made mainstream superhero cinema darker than usual, and early-to-mid-2000s DC wouldn’t have had to rely on sporadic standalone releases like Catwoman and Constantine.

Why Christian Bale Is Better As Batman Than Superman

The Actor Humanized Batman In Cinema Like Never Before

Christian Bale not being finalized to play Superman and Wolfgang Petersen not securing funding from Warner Bros were blessings in disguise for fans of Batman Begins. The 2005 movie allowed Bale to deliver his brooding intensity from previous roles like The Machinist and Equilibrium but as a costumed superhero this time. His grounded take on Batman also reflected Bale’s impressive knack for physically transforming himself as he beefed up significantly for the film’s combat sequences. A supporting role of Superman in an otherwise Batman-focused project like Asylum wouldn’t have established him as a bankable lead star like Batman Begins did.

The Batman vs. Superman movie’s cancelation gave way to Bale proving how he’s the perfect Batman. Under Christopher Nolan’s deft direction and in the company of thespians like Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, Bale got more space to tap into the fragile side of the DC hero. The haunting effect of his parent’s murder, the fear of not saving Gotham, and his journey of self-discovery made Bale’s performance in Batman Begins way more human than past iterations. This fragility was only explored further in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, showing why Bale was tailor-made to portray Batman.