Robert Pattinson has worked long and hard to break away from his early Twilight level of fame and in recent years has established an impressive resume as an indie films darling. But now that he’s set to play Batman in Matt Reeves’ planned trilogy, the actor’s back to being questioned endlessly about his role in a huge franchise.
Recently, while speaking to Jennifer Lopez on an episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors, the subject came up again, and Pattinson shed some light on why he decided to make a return to big budget movies. He also observed that Lopez would make a great Dark Knight.
For Pattinson, Batman has always been a disturbed character who has to struggle with his own demons to prove whether “he’s that great or not.” It’s this struggle that the actor is so keen on portraying and Lopez responded with a firm belief that he’ll be able to do full justice to the character, with Jennifer saying:
“I think you’ll be a great Batman. An awesome Batman! Seriously, because he’s a dark character.”
To this, Pattinson replied, “You would be as well.” The comment may have been tongue-in-cheek, but Lopez got firmly behind the idea, adding:
“Huh? I could be Batman? Why not!”
While the idea of a female Batman would have seemed like a joke only a year ago, Batwoman airing on The CW proves that there’s space for a female to wear the famed cowl. That being said, the big screen iteration of Batman seems to be locked down by Pattinson for the next few years, with his version of the hero set to appear in Matt Reeves’ trilogy and possibly a future Justice League movie.
On the other hand, the recent success of Todd Phillips’ Joker has prompted rumors of a new Jokerverse, complete with its own distinct Dark Knight played by a new actor. Could WB go even further off the beaten track of superhero movies by featuring a female, minority Batman? Considering the studio’s new strategy for DC Comics films to throw everything at the drawing board and see what sticks, anything’s possible.