James Gunn Officially Addresses Casting Alan Ritchson as the DCU’s Batman

James Gunn and Peter Safran’s evolving DC movie universe already has several key characters locked in, including Superman, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Lobo, just to name a few. One central character who isn’t cast yet is the Dark Knight, though that hasn’t stopped a flood of fan castings that offer some interesting options. One such option is Reacher star Alan Ritchson, and it’s a compelling choice to be sure. James Gunn was asked about what he thinks when he hears names like Ritchson’s come up in casting discussions online, and the answer certainly gives the impression that there might be something to that idea, even if it wouldn’t be a casting for Batman directly.

On Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn was asked if he had gotten into casting for Batman in his head, Gunn said no, and then Horowitz asked what Gunn thinks when fans mention someone like Alan Ritchson for the role. “I am a big Alan Ritchson fan, both as an actor and as a guy. I, let’s just wait and see what happens.”

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That was a long pause Gunn took when answering that, so it doesn’t feel like a huge leap to assume that perhaps discussions have taken place in regards to Ritchson being a part of the new DCU. That said, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s playing Batman, but it doesn’t rule it out either.

Gunn was asked if he thinks about trying to differentiate this Batman from previous versions, and even The Batman’s version featuring Robert Pattinson. Gunn said, “Listen, do I ever think about it, sure there’s people out there I think about, but let’s see where the script comes in. It’s not the furthest along thing. I mean we have things that are much much further along.”

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As for Ritchson, he’s actually spoken about this directly, referring to when Gunn posted on Twitter that Ritchson wasn’t playing Batman, but Ritchson also talked about how this casting simply won’t die, not to mention the fact that he would play Batman in a heartbeat.

“What’s amazing to me about this rumor of the Batman desire in the zeitgeist is the fact that James Gunn has personally announced publicly on his Twitter … ‘LOL. He’s not playing Batman’ … and this thing will not die,” Ritchson told Wired. “I get asked every day if I’m playing Batman. Would I play Batman? Yes? You wouldn’t even have to pay me to be Batman. Yeah, I’d don the suit.” Ritchson even did his best Batman voice to complete the picture.

While Superman has been the priority for DC, Gunn confirmed earlier this week that two of his other main priorities are getting Batman and Wonder Woman closer to the finish line. “Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now, personally,” Gunn told Rolling Stone. “And it’s not — I’m not writing Batman, but I am working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman. So outside of the stuff that I’m doing in the projects that are actively going, our two priorities are finishing our Wonder Woman and our Batman scripts.”

Would you love to see Ritchson as Batman in the new DCU, or would you like to see him play a different character? Let us know in the comments.