Zack Snyder Revealed His Surprise Back-Up Choice for Batman if Ben Affleck Said No

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Justice League director Zack Snyder's work on Warner Bros and DC's tentpole superhero movies may be over, but during his controversial run he was responsible for some fan-favorite casting: specifically Ben Affleck as Batman.

Although the actor didn't get to fulfill his plan of directing his own Bat-film, he was nevertheless popular in the role.

Things could have been very different, however, if he didn't agree to do it, with Snyder admitting he'd do something similar to Henry Cavill as Superman and cast a lesser-known actor instead.

Related: Zack Snyder reveals he wants to make a "pornographic film"

As he revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor he specifically had in mind was Matthias Schoenaerts, who you might recognize from The Old Guard, Rust and Bone, and Red Sparrow.

"I was talking to (Matthias) a lot about it," Snyder told the podcast (at 34 minutes in). "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?"

Related: Zack Snyder reveals his alternate titles for Batman v Superman

Elsewhere in the podcast, Snyder said he had read Affleck's script and said it was "cool", and that there were plans for setting Man of Steel in the same universe as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy.

Zack Snyder's Justice League is out now on HBO Max in the US, and Sky Cinema and NOW in the UK.

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