10 Iconic Movie Villains (Almost Played By Someone Else)

Robin Williams showed us all that he had the range to play truly creepy as a serial killer in Christopher Nolan's Insomnia. The performance wasn't enough, though, to convince Nolan to agree to Williams's lobbying for the part of the Joker in the director's Dark Knight. By then, Williams was perhaps a little too old for the part and it's hard to imagine him nailing it like Heath Ledger did.

This was far from the first time that the comedy icon had tried to land a part as a Batman villain, though.

Williams's desire to don the purple suit and white makeup goes all the way back to the 1980s when he was tapped up to play the Clown Prince of Crime to Michael Keaton's Batman in the 1989 Tim Burton movie. It turned out, however, that Williams was largely approached as bait in order to make first choice Joker Jack Nicholson finally commit to the part.

Burton kept Williams in mind, though, and approached him to play The Riddler in his proposed sequel to Batman Returns. Screenwriter Lee Batchler wrote the script specifically with Williams in mind. Then Burton dropped out, the movie was retooled as Batman Forever and Williams replaced by Jim Carrey.

When asked later if he still wanted to play one of the Caped Crusader's rogues gallery, Williams told reporters: "The Batman films have screwed me twice before. I'd be like: 'Okay, is this a real offer? If it is, then the answer's yes. Don't pump me again, motherf**kers!'"