It’s that time again, folks: time to cast a new Batman. After nearly two years of speculation, last week Ben Affleck confirmed he will not be reprising the Caped Crusader for The Batman. Now DC and Warner Bros must find a new actor to don the cape and cowl, and one of the names that’s been thrown out by fans is Mad Men star Jon Hamm. If you’re curious about how Hamm might look suited up as Batman, the image below does the job quite nicely.
Jon Hamm certainly looks intimidating in Batman’s classic black and grey costume in the above artwork. There are two key components to playing Batman on the big screen: how one looks and acts in the costume, and how effectively one portrays the Bruce Wayne persona. Hamm can almost certainly pull off the Bruce Wayne aspect thanks to his time on Don Draper, and this artwork presents a good case for him donning the Batman costume as well.
Artist aboyningthouja even suggested that a Jon Hamm Batman could be a counterpart to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker. As far as we know, even with a new actor playing the eponymous character, The Batman will still be set in the DC Extended Universe, whereas Joker is a standalone movie set outside of the DCEU. So such a showdown is unlikely to actually happen, but it’s a nice thought.
This isn’t the first time that Jon Hamm’s name has come up in connection with Batman. Just last September, he said he would be interested in playing Gotham City’s shadowy vigilante provided that he liked the script. Hamm has also been repeatedly fan-casted online as Superman, a role that’s currently shrouded in uncertainty since it still hasn’t been officially confirmed whether or not Henry Cavill is playing the Man of Steel again.
One hitch that could prevent Jon Hamm from being a legitimate candidate for leading The Batman is age. It’s been reported that director Matt Reeves is looking for a younger actor for the role, and Hamm is actually a year older than the departing Ben Affleck. So unless Reeves changes his mind, it’s doubtful Hamm will be in serious consideration. That being said, Reeves is also supposedly looking for a big name actor to play Bruce Wayne/Batman, and Hamm certainly fits that bill.
While no official plot details about The Batman have been revealed yet, Matt Reeves has previously said that it will be a noir-driven story that will highlight Bruce Wayne’s skills as a detective, territory that has barely been explored in the character’s previous live action adaptations on the big screen. Reeves will also feature a “rogues gallery” in The Batman, and one of those villains is rumored to be The Penguin.
The Batman hits theaters on June 25, 2021, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on how it’s coming along. As for Jon Hamm, he can currently be seen in The Report, and later this year he’ll appear in Lucy in the Sky and Good Omens.
