Josh Brolin has proved time and time again, with his spectacular acting chops, his worthiness of being a part of one of the biggest franchises of all time: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though he played two supervillains, the actor still did a splendid job worthy of commendation. But while he is more suited to playing a villain, he once got the chance to play a superhero as well.
This ‘offer’ was for playing DC’s Batman in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). However, that role was bagged by Ben Affleck instead, which led to Brolin being furious at the situation… but for a good cause!
Josh Brolin’s Reaction After Ben Affleck Bagged Batman’s Mantle
Before Ben Affleck was confirmed to play Batman in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), the role was initially tapped to Josh Brolin, the renowned supervillain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As shared by him with MTV News (via ComicBookMovie.com):
“No. I mean, I started thinking about it personally…you know, what are they going to do with this older, wiser version? I liked the idea and I thought it was a really interesting idea.”
However, even though the Gone Girl star beat him in the race to play the Caped Crusader, the Thanos portrayer was anything but angry at Affleck for it. Instead, he was furious at the fans who were hating on Affleck’s Batman, just because of the grudge they held against him because of his part in the 2003 superflop, Daredevil. Brolin said,
“Ben [Affleck]’s got so much flak from this, I actually got angry for him, not at him. Everyone else is angry at him! I’m really curious to see what he does and what Zack [Snyder] does. I’ll see the movie. I’ll be a fan to see whatever version they’re going to do. But how do you bring up a movie that Ben did 10 or 15 years ago and…I mean, c’mon, the guy has grown and matured, and just look at the work he’s doing now. I’m going to defend him literally until death.”
Nonetheless, Ben Affleck‘s Batman came out and after being hated for a while, now he is on the verge where fans want the Hypnotic star to pick up the cape again for the big screen.
As for himself (if speaking honestly): Josh Brolin couldn’t be happier for not getting the role in DC.
Josh Brolin Was Glad He Didn’t Become The Batman
Initially, before Ben Affleck snatched the role from him, Josh Brolin was quite interested in taking up the role in Batman v Superman, and a major reason behind this was the risk involved in the project. Sharing about the same in the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said:
“Something that is set up to not work at all, or to work flyingly — I like those odds. I like playing with those odds. I’m like, ‘Am I the guy who’s gonna make it all fail?’” Brolin said. “It would have been the older, more raspy, for lack of a better word. Honestly, that would have been a fun deal, and maybe I’ll do it when I’m 80.”
But that didn’t mean he was going to lose sleep over the role if someone better had gotten to it first. Instead, he was happy that he didn’t get the part.
“I’m really glad it didn’t happen,” Brolin said. “I haven’t thought twice about it.”
Josh Brolin isn’t the only one happy about this either, because: 1. Ben Affleck did a remarkable job as Batman; something no one else could replace him for, and 2. Josh Brolin went on to score and perform even more tremendously in the role of Cable in Deadpool 2 as well as the major role of the biggest threat to the Avengers and the world: Thanos.
Turns out everything does happen for the better!
