Rumor of the Day: Armie Hammer as the new Batman?

October 9th 2012, 2:15pm

Well, we knew these would get started sooner or later. So…grain of salt and everything, here goes. The folks at Moviehole have an inside source who states that THE LONE RANGER star Armie Hammer is being considered to take on the cape and cowl once again for their as-yet-to-be-announced JUSTICE LEAGUE film…again. Hammer was originally cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman for George Miller’s JUSTICE LEAGUE, which fell through just before production began.

“It’s unfortunate,” Hammer told MTV, “because the amount of work that was already done — I mean, they had finished pre-production and they were a couple of days away from starting to shoot, so it’s a shame that nobody got to see all of the work that got put into it.”

Here’s the rumor from Moviehole:

Hearing, from a very good source, today that Hammer, who is now a hot commodity after such flicks as “The Social Network” and “Mirror Mirror”, not to mention his upcoming lead role in “The Lone Ranger”, is ”back on WB’s radar” for the part of Batman. Not for a solo flick, but for the ensemble “Justice League” movie [again].

But the Batman in this movie might only be used in Justice League movies”, we’re informed, suggesting Hammer’s Batman might be restricted to the JLA universe, so chances are someone else might be get a shot at donning the charcoal duds in a solo movie.

And there it is. I think Hammer is a solid choice, really, but depending on how well THE LONE RANGER does he may not be as affordable by the time JUSTICE LEAGUE happens. Hammer has the appearance of a younger Bruce Wayne, which sits in alignment with DC’s new 52, where everyone is much younger (see image from the current Batman comic book, art by Greg Capullo), so he’s got that going for him.

Rumors have been swirling all over the place about DC and Warner Bros. trying to get it together enough to pull off a JUSTICE LEAGUE film, even sending in undercover marketing execs into comic shops asking questions like “What would fan reaction be to a Justice League movie with Frank Miller’s name attached? and other doozies. (Check out the full story about that one at Bleeding Cool. Hilarious stuff).

I’m sure more casting rumors like this will rain down from the sky until they get their shit together, so until then we can all have fun speculating, hoping, scoffing, and waiting.

Let’s just hope it’s nothing like this…