The Batman: 10 Actors Who Should Replace Ben Affleck
5. Riz Ahmed
Forgetting about Venom for a second (because, really, did anyone other than Tom Hardy come out of that movie looking golden?), Riz Ahmed has done nothing but deliver constantly unpredictable performances across his career. His America-breaking role in Nightcrawler was one built on nervousness and fallible likability, while he’s just as capable of putting in turns as seemingly ordinary people obscuring dark secrets.
Physically, he might not initially seem like an obvious choice for Batman. The character is usually envisioned as a hulking predator of the night, whereas Ahmed is lean and scrappy. That said, if it’s true that WB are planning on focusing more on the hero’s detective work and capabilities, Ahmed is more than right to embody a Batman who’d rather use his brain than his fists to solve a problem.
The image of Ahmed’s Wayne being on the trail of a killer, mulling over evidence and crime scenes can easily be envisioned based on the kind of dark stories the actor has mostly been a part of, and would be the kind of breakout lead role the always-stellar actor deserves.
[JB]