Josh Brolin Reveals He Was Almost Tapped to Play Batman Pre-Ben Affleck – TMZ

Josh Brolin just made comic fanboys’ brains explode — he says he was almost set to play the Dark Knight once upon a time … that is, until the director went with Ben Affleck instead.

The veteran actor — who’s already got a couple superhero/villain roles under his belt now as Thanos (‘Avengers’) and Cable (“Deadpool 2”) — made the revelation this week on MTV’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast … when they asked him about losing the role of Batman.

Brolin confirmed … yes, Zack Snyder had, in fact, approached him as he was ramping up for ‘Batman v Superman’ — and it sounds like JB was onboard and fully willing to do it.

But, as he explains, it was Snyder who decided to go with BA in the end — which is a bummer (for some fans) because Brolin would’ve been more true to the version of Batman depicted in the flick … namely, the older version from “The Dark Knight Returns” (the comic).

This is in the weeds, but Snyder kinda mashed up storylines for his 2016 movie — including the one where Batman fights Superman — and decided to employ a younger Batsy, plus ditch much of that comic storyline, including the fact Superman was a government pawn.

You can tell Brolin was excited by the prospect of donning the cape and cowl … and even shouts out George Clooney for his turn on the character, no matter how panned it was.

Here’s the good news … Brolin might actually get a second bite at the apple here — assuming anyone at the newly merged Discovery-Warner is listening. Lots of changes are on the horizon … including Discovery honchos reportedly wanting to overhaul the DCEU.

That entails revisiting and revitalizing staple characters (like Superman) and perhaps further down the line … maybe Batman again too. Robert Pattinson seems to be in the driver’s seat for now — but if Discovery wants to take another swing at ‘TDR,’ Brolin might be their man.