Zack Snyder Reveals Who Would Have Played Batman If Ben Affleck Would Have Passed on the Role

Director Zack Snyder had his run in the DC universe with Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and of course his cut of Justice League, which he returned to after having to leave the original. Ben Affleck starred as Snyder’s Batman in the latter two films, and many fans really enjoyed his performance, but Snyder reveals that there was a period of time between his announcing Batman v Superman and Affleck signing the deal on the role. During that time, Snyder had to come up with a backup plan in case Affleck didn’t pan out.

In a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via CB), Snyder revealed that his other choice for Batman was Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts. He said:

“I was talking to him a lot about it. He never got in the suit, but I did do a bunch of mock-ups of him, because Ben was on the fence. And I don’t blame him. Everyone should be on the fence when you’re asked, ‘Do you want to play Batman?'”

He went on to say that Affleck wasn't the only one with concerns. Schoenaerts apparently didn't feel that his age (30s) was appropriate to play a version of Bruce Wayne/Batman who is in his mid-40s. Matthias Schoenaerts is a lesser-known actor in the US, but is well-established in Europe. You may know him from his role as the traitorous "Booker," one of Charlize Theron's team of warrior immortals in Netflix's The Old Guard. He also played a Soviet commander in the Jennifer Lawrence spy drama Red Sparrow and has starred in awards contenders like Rust and Bone and Oscar-winner The Danish Girl.

No doubt the role of Batman would have launched him to stardom, but it turned out that Affleck accepted the role, and the rest is history.