After years of fans hoping to see Reacher star Alan Ritchson play the Caped Crusader, an upcoming Batman show is finally making it a possibility. Alan Ritchson has become a major action star in recent years. He’s got the look of an action star thanks to his muscular frame, his rugged appearance, and his athleticism. More importantly, because of his star-turn roles in Reacher and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, among others, he’s become a fan-favorite actor.
Because he’s such a great action star, many of Ritchson’s fans have wanted to see him play Batman. Not only is he a great action star with the right build to play a superhero, but Ritchson also has a history with DC; he played Aquaman in Smallville and Hank Hall of Hawk & Dove in Titans. The campaign to get him cast as Batman got so popular that creative head of the DCU James Gunn even commented on Ritchson potentially playing Batman, saying “Let’s just wait to see what happens.”
While Ritchson has been a favorite among fans to play Batman for years now, he’s never really had a chance before. Ben Affleck played the character in the late 2010s, with Robert Pattinson getting the role for The Batman in 2022. While there is the upcoming The Brave and the Bold movie, there’s also another series that could give Ritchson a better chance at playing the Dark Knight: Absolute Batman.
Alan Ritchson Would Be Perfect To Voice Bruce Wayne In Absolute Batman
DC recently announced an animated series based on the Absolute Batman comics. Absolute Batman is a reimagining of the character where Bruce Wayne’s parents weren’t murdered, and he wasn’t born rich. The comics have been a massive hit since they began in 2024, both for putting a new spin on Batman as a blue-collar, self-made hero relying only on his muscular physique and crude weaponry, and for the massive and monstrous reimagined villains he fights, like Absolute Joker.
One of Absolute Batman’s defining characteristics, his gigantic stature and muscles, also makes him perfect for Alan Ritchson. Ritchson’s voice is already closely associated with a man who looks like a bodybuilder, which makes it a perfect fit for Absolute Batman. Additionally, since Absolute Batman is an even darker take on the character, Ritchson’s gritty voice would lend itself perfectly to the role.
As an added bonus, casting Alan Ritchson as Absolute Batman would also make a lot of DC fans happy. Ever since Kevin Conroy’s passing in 2022, there hasn’t been a definitive Batman voice actor. Ritchson is a fan-favorite, James Gunn has even hinted that he’s a possibility, and it would get people who are already invested in Batman even more excited for the Absolute Batman show. Ritchson himself has even been vocal about his desire to play Batman before. It seems like a perfect fit.
Why Alan Ritchson Probably Can’t Play Batman In Live-Action
The upcoming Absolute Batman series may also be Alan Ritchson’s only chance to play Batman, as he probably can’t play the character in live-action anymore. The main reason is that Ritchson is simply too old. He’s currently 43 years old, the same age Ben Affleck was when he played the grizzled veteran Batman. James Gunn’s DCU, however, is probably looking for a younger actor who can play Bruce Wayne for years across multiple installments.
The DCU is just getting started. It needs a Batman actor who can do stunts, acrobatics, and leap off of buildings for at least a decade going forward. Ritchson is still incredibly athletic, but he’s also indisputably middle-aged. Even if he could continue doing Batman-level stunts until he’s 54, he can’t pass as a young man anymore. The DCU likely wants to start with a younger Bruce Wayne who’s at the beginning of his career, and Ritchson isn’t the right pick for that kind of role.
Another reason Ritchson may not get another chance to play the character in live-action is that while he does have the physique of a superhero, he’s arguably too muscular to play a normal version of Batman. Ritchson is a very bulky and muscular man. Absolute Batman, with his accentuated muscles and broad build, may be the only version of Batman he could play in live-action. Most other versions of the character simply aren’t as bulky as he is.
Absolute Batman, however, probably won’t ever get a live-action treatment. Not only does this upcoming animated series significantly reduce the need for a live-action adaptation, but there’s an argument that Absolute Batman can’t be translated to live-action. All of his villains are massive monsters; it would take an incredible amount of CGI just to put them on the screen. The animated Absolute Batman is probably Alan Ritchson’s best and last chance to play Batman.
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Bob Kane, Bill Finger
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The Batman
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The Batman Part II
