Did The Batman just add another villain?

First: WGTC‘s initial report back in June could have been on the money, but The Batman‘s script — and its scope — might have changed in the interim. It could very well be that the filmmakers were planning on including all six of the baddies mentioned in that report, but have since decided to trim down the cast just a bit. These kinds of things happen all the time, and since The Batman is still in pre-production, it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility.

Second: the June report may have been accurate, but there’s simply been a lull in casting before the cast is rounded out. We don’t find this to be terribly likely, considering that the roles of Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), and crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) have all been filled. It’s also been announced that Peter Sarsgaard (The Looming Tower) and newcomer Jayme Lawson have been cast in unspecified roles; if they had indeed been tapped to help fill out the rogues’ gallery, that seems like the kind of thing that would have been made public.

Third: that report from June might have been a complete load of garbage, and the production’s failure to cast half of the villains mentioned in it is illustrating this. If one were to have asked the average Batman fan before all the casting news broke to take a wild guess at six villains that might be up for inclusion in the upcoming movie, we’re guessing that maybe four out of five would have correctly guessed at Catwoman, Penguin, and the Riddler.

It’s also worth mentioning that even if the June report were accurate (and, as we made clear at the time, that’s a pretty big if), this new rumor exists completely separate from it. All we have to go on is the word of WGTC‘s anonymous sources, and since no other media outlet on the planet has so much as gotten a whiff of any news that Clayface might be involved in The Batman, we’re left with the conclusion that this rumor is suspect at best.

Of course, we’ve been wrong before, and it would be cool to see a villain like Clayface — who is normally depicted as a super-strong shapeshifter, and sometimes with a degree of mind-control ability — on the big screen. We expect this rumor to be put to bed fairly quickly, however; if there are any other major roles for the production to fill, we’re likely to get news as to who will be filling them within the next month or so. The flick is expected to go before the cameras in early 2020, which (holy crap) is almost upon us, so we’re thinking that principal casting is pretty much complete. 

Of course, we’ll be here to fill you in on any Bat-developments that come down the pike. The Batman will flap into theaters on June 25, 2021.

Written by: Looper