Armie Hammer wanted his Justice League: Mortal version of Batman to be seriously disturbed. Justice League: Mortal ranks alongside Batman Unchained and Tim Burton’s Superman Lives as one of the most intriguing, unmade superhero projects of all time. Mortal would have been directed by George Miller with a cast that included Hammer as Batman, Common as Green Lantern and Adam Brody as The Flash.
Justice League: Mortal got pretty far into pre-production back in 2008 before Warner Bros. plugged the plug over rising costs and concerns over the story. There are also reports they didn’t want the project to clash with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movies. Since then, the script and various pieces of artwork for Mortal have been revealed, with fans lamenting Miller’s unmade vision.
Hammer has spoken about Justice League: Mortal in the past and stated he’s almost glad it didn’t happen because he feels he was too young to do the part justice. Now in a new chat with Maltin On Movies, he reveals his take on Batman/Bruce Wayne would have been borderline insane.
According to Hammer, this Batman wasn’t going to be very friendly to the Justice League either.
I wanted this Batman character to be so dark. I was like look, no one – and this was George’s idea as well, this was really in the script - but no one ever really shows how truly psychotic this man has to be. Like this is a guy who chooses to put on a costume, in all black, and sneak around at night and beat the s*** out of people.
It’s hard to believe now, but back in time, a look of comic book fans seemed glad Justice League: Mortal was scrapped, feeling Miller wasn’t a good fit following kids movies like Happy Feet and Babe. Of course, that overlooks that he’s also the creator of Mad Max, and would go on to direct Mad Max: Fury Road, arguably the best action movie of the decade. This cast Mortal in a whole new light and every story reveal and piece of concept art shows how special the finished product could have been.
So in our story, the Batman was the true personification of this guy. Bruce Wayne was the mask that you never really see. I’m probably not supposed to be talking about this, but they took the job away so whatever! So even in times when he would be sitting around, like let’s say he had his batsuit off and all that, he would be sitting down with the thing, looking at the thing with the cowl on, because that’s where he felt the most comfortable in his own weird, twisted way. He was a neurotic, like borderline schizophrenic dude who didn’t trust a single person, including anyone in the Justice League, and had all the dirt on every single one of them, and was ready to take all of them down at the snap of a finger.
Hammer has moved on from Batman now, but there’s still no confirmation of Ben Affleck’s current status in the role. Following the critical and commercial disappointment of 2017’s Justice League, Affleck was said to be eager to exit the franchise, but it seems a final decision hasn’t been made yet. Matt Reeves’ forthcoming The Batman is said to focus on the origins of this version of Batman, with a younger actor taking over the cowl.
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Source: Maltin On Movies
