10 Actors Almost Cast As Batman (Who Would Have Sucked Way More Than Affleck)

6. Jake Gyllenhaal

Before Christian Bale brought his now infamous growl to Nolan's Bat-franchise (having been initially turned down for the Robin role in Schumacher's iteration of the franchise), Jake Gyllenhaal, who similarly was almost cast as Spiderman before his almost doppelganger Toby Maguire swung in successfully, was one of the names strongly attached to the role.

In fact, Gyllenhaal had the backing of David S Goyer, before auditions, though the writer was ultimately swayed by Christian Bale's audition.

Why It Would Have Sucked

Not to be too cruel, but Gyllenhaal doesn't have the emotional range necessary for more complex leading roles, and though Batman might seem to be a less challenging character to play considering the freedom afforded by the costume, the necessary dueling of personalities required to balance both Batman and Bruce Wayne is far from an easy prospect.

Several of the actors who have played Bruce Wayne in the past have failed to offer the right balance - most unfortunately George Clooney, who was given very little to do, and even Adam West was a pretty terrible Bruce Wayne - and Chris Nolan's project required a casting choice that would have tackled both sides of the character with equal prowess. He got that with Bale, whose sub-Patrick Bateman touches to Wayne were an extra facet we hadn't seen before, and while Gyllenhaal has shown a surprising aptitude for physical roles (like Prince Of Persia and Source Code to a slightly lesser extent), it would have been his Bruce Wayne that would have struggled to convince.

And you have to wonder quite how that would have played out with sister Maggie being cast in The Dark Knight...