‘The Batman’ Reportedly Looking to Cast Late Twenties-Something Actor

Warner Bros. is reportedly seeking a "late 20-something actor" to headline The Batman, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The outlet debunked the rumor Call Me By Your Name star Armie Hammer had won the role after Revenge of the Fans claimed the 32-year-old actor was in "advance talks" to take over from 46-year-old Ben Affleck as the next caped crusader.

Warners has not yet met with actors for the role and the studio was earlier reported to be on the hunt for a "familiar face" for its new star.

Actors reported-slash-rumored to be in the running included Jake Gyllenhaal, Jon Hamm, Robert Pattinson, Kit Harington, Ryan Gosling, Richard Armitage, Jack O'Connell, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, most of whom are ruled out by the desired age bracket.

THR added the Bruce Wayne at the center of writer-director Matt Reeves' The Batman isn't "a straight-up rookie," such as the newbie depicted in Frank Miller's famed origin tale Year One, but is not yet "the expert, undefeatable crimefighter of a Batman at his peak."

Reeves previously remarked his DC Extended Universe entry is not based on Year One, revealing in August, "We're not doing any particular [comic book]."

"Year One is one of the many comic books that I love. We are definitely not doing Year One. It's just exciting to be focused very specifically on a tale that is defining for him and very personal to him," Reeves said.

"Obviously we're not doing an origin tale or anything like that. We're doing a story that is definitively Batman though, and trying to tell a story that's emotional and yet is really about him being the world's greatest detective and all the things that for me, since I was a kid, made me love Batman."

Most recently, Reeves characterized his take on the Dark Knight as a "point of view-driven, noir Batman tale" that depicts "more Batman in his detective mode than we've seen in the films."

"The comics have a history of that. He's supposed to be the world's greatest detective, and that's not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been," Reeves told THR in January.

"I'd love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it's going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation."

Warner Bros. has dated the tentatively titled The Batman for June 25, 2021.

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