Sylvester Stallone Wanted To Play Batman

With more action-packed films under his belt than can easily be counted, in 2010 it was brought to light that Sylvester Stallone wants to play Batman. Although this hasn’t happened, with Michael Keaton once again donning the cowl at age 70, maybe Stallone isn’t out of the running just yet?

Taking part in a fan Q&A for Ain’t It Cool News in 2010, Stallone was asked about his thoughts on playing Batman. His answer was later brought up to Frank Miller, who had previously said that he would have liked to see Stallone play an older Batman in an adaptation of his seminal graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Stallone responded by saying:

It sounds very intriguing. I can certainly relate to his plight and the main concern would be: Do you still have fire in the gut at that age to be interesting to watch? If the flame is still burning, which I suspect it will be, since I have reflux and ulcers anyway, something will still be simmering inside. So yes, that would be quite a revelation.

Since Batman became a worldwide phenomenon after Tim Burton’s 1989 movie, the actors chosen to play the Caped Crusader haven’t been the most bulked out, muscle-bound men out there. With actors like Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale playing the vigilante, with many more known actors considered for the role, it seems like Stallone was never even considered. Bale did bulk up for his portrayal, and Ben Affleck was a beast, so perhaps times are changing?

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2010,  Stallone spoke about his distaste for the casting choices for the action genre:

The action movies changed radically when it became possible to Velcro your muscles on. It was the beginning of a new era. The visual took over. The special effects became more important than the single person.

 

That was the beginning of the end.

Although he hasn’t had the chance to play the Dark Knight, he managed to get his foot in the door to superhero movies in 2017 when he played one of the Ravager leaders, Stakar Ogord, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Last year, he also voiced King Shark in another of James Gunns’ movies, The Suicide Squad.

While it’s unlikely that we’ll get to see the Rocky actor play Batman in his prime, there’s still a chance that he could be considered to play an older, broodier version of Batman from Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. We’ve had the film in animated form, and much of the aesthetic was also used in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, but a live-action DKR still hasn’t happened. Is this a case of never say never?

Source: Giant Freakin Robot

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