12 Actors You Won't Believe Almost Played Iconic Comic Book Characters
4. Keanu Reeves - Dr Manhattan
Watchmen is a strange movie. In typical Zack Snyder style, it’s grand in its ambition, often breathtaking in its aesthetics but a little flawed in its execution. Billy Crudup’s take on Dr. Manhattan isn’t one of the more commonly cited flaws, but there isn’t much you can add Keanu Reeves to and not improve it. His take on the character would’ve been fascinating to see.
However, due to The Day The Earth Stood Still’s production overrunning, Reeves as Dr. Manhattan just didn’t work out, and Snyder pressed ahead with Crudup in the role.
Given that the movie ended up rather disappointing, it’s unlikely a recast of a single character would save it, especially given that Manhattan plays a reduced role in the movie than he had in Alan Moore’s original graphic novel.
Dr. Manhattan perhaps wouldn’t quite have allowed Keanu to show of his stunt ability as other comic book characters would’ve done, but he definitely could’ve still brought something to the role.
Thankfully, we likely won’t have to wait long to see Keanu strutting his stuff in the comic book movie world. He’s apparently been contacted by Marvel, and there’s a whole host of roles he could play.