Armie Hammer Wanted ‘Justice League Mortal’ To Show How Psychotic Batman Is

Believe it or not, we almost lived in a world where Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller directed a Justice League movie and a full decade before we eventually got Zack Snyder’s version. We were so close, in fact, that what was then titled Justice League Mortal was mere weeks out from principal photography until Warner Bros. ultimately pulled the plug. The cast included D.J. Cotrona as Superman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Adam Brody as The Flash, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, Common as Green Lantern, and The Lone Ranger’s Armie Hammer as the Caped Crusader.

In the years since different cast members and others associated with the production of JLM have offered some insight into what the project would have looked like. Most recently, The Lone Ranger‘s Armie Hammer let it be known that he wanted to put the “dark” in “Dark Knight”:

“I wanted this Batman character to be so dark. I was like look, no one – and this was George’s idea as well, this was really in the script – but no one ever really shows how truly psychotic this man has to be. Like this is a guy who chooses to put on a costume, in all black, and sneak around at night and beat the s*** out of people.”

Hammer did not stop there:

“So even in times when he would be sitting around, like let’s say he had his batsuit off and all that, he would be sitting down with the thing, looking at the thing with the cowl on, because that’s where he felt the most comfortable in his own weird, twisted way. He was a neurotic, like borderline schizophrenic dude who didn’t trust a single person, including anyone in the Justice League, and had all the dirt on every single one of them, and was ready to take all of them down at the snap of a finger.”

As for the DC franchise we did end up with, that continues this month with Aquaman.

Directed by James Wan, Aquaman stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, Amber Heard as Mera, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Patrick Wilson as Orm / Ocean Master, Dolph Lundgren as Nereus, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, Ludi Lin as Captain Murk, and Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and director James Wan comes an acition-packed adventure that spans the vast, visually breathtaking underwater world of the seven seas, “Aquaman,” starring Jason Momoa in the title role. The film reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime—one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be… a king.

Aquaman swims into theaters on December 21, 2018.

Source: Maltin On Movies