Josh Brolin was close to playing Zack Snyder’s Batman

Ben Affleck would never have donned Batman’s famous cowl if the Avengers star had been cast in Zack Snyder’s movies instead.

The movie world very nearly didn’t get Batfleck. Can you imagine?

Avengers: Infinity War, Sicario and Dune star Josh Brolin revealed he was in the running to don the famous Batman cowl for director Zack Snyder. The role ultimately went to Ben Affleck.

Brolin said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the prospect of playing Batman was “interesting” to him.

“Something that is set up to not work at all, or work flyingly – I like those odds. I like playing with those odds. I’m like, ‘Am I the guy who’s going to make it fail?’

“It would have been the older, more raspy, for lack of a better word [version of Batman]. Honestly, that would have been a fun deal, and maybe I’ll do it when I’m 80.”

Brolin said ultimately it was Snyder who made the call to cast Affleck instead.

Josh Brolin was in the running to play Batman, a role that ultimately went to Ben Affleck. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Affleck debuted the role in Snyder’s critically derided epic Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as an older, hardened and more battle weary Batman. He would go on to reprise the role in Justice League and had an uncredited cameo in Suicide Squad.

Affleck’s involvement with the DC Extended Universe movies was to be more substantial. When he was first cast in 2013, he also signed on to write, direct and star in a standalone Batman movie in addition to Snyder’s films.

He and Geoff Johns penned a script, centred on a story about Batman facing off with Deathstroke – the showdown was even set up in a post-credits sequence in Justice League.

But Affleck’s tenure as Batman was blighted by mixed reviews and he stepped down as director, citing that he felt he wouldn’t have enjoyed helming the film. Matt Reeves was soon brought on as replacement but Reeves wanted to take the movie in a different direction.

Robert Pattinson was hired to play a younger version of Batman, one who was not connected to Snyder’s oeuvre. The Batman, starring Pattinson, was released earlier this year and has generated more than $US750 million at the global box office so far.

Batfleck.

Affleck will play Batman one more time, in the upcoming The Flash movie, which also sees the homecoming of Michael Keaton in the iconic role, having previously portrayed the Dark Knight in Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns in 1989 and 1992.

Brolin is also no stranger to comic book movies, having played both the genocidal purple alien Thanos in the Avengers movies and Cable in Deadpool 2. He is currently in western drama series Outer Range, streaming on Amazon Prime Video.