In the year 2000, the Batman brand in Hollywood was like a crucifix in front of a vampire. Nobody wanted to touch it after the Batman & Robin bomb. Despite this, the Dark Knight thrived in the comic book world, especially in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween and Dark Victory series, which were released in the second half of the ’90s.
In Wizard #105, the magazine asked Loeb and Sale to choose their dream cast for a potential adaptation of Dark Victory. The creative team didn’t let anybody down here, selecting some inspired casting choices that could have been awesome in 2000. Of course, it would be five years until the Caped Crusader returned to the screen in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.
For the lead part of Batman, Loeb and Sale picked Russell Crowe. “From the brutal cop in L.A. Confidential to the frightened whistle blower in The Insider, Russell Crowe’s got the strength, confidence and ominous brooding needed for both Bruce Wayne and Batman,” Wizard wrote.
At the time of the issue’s release, Gladiator had just come out, so nobody could have predicted just how big a star Crowe was about to become in Hollywood. He was on the rise, and if Warner Bros. and DC were casting for the Batman role there and then, he would have certainly made a shortlist. And truthfully speaking, he would have made an incredible version of the character for all the reasons listed in the magazine.
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Other castings included Angelina Jolie as Poison Ivy, John Malkovich as the Calendar Man, Andy Garcia as Mario Falcone, Kathy Bates as Sofia Falcone, and Steve Buscemi as the Riddler. However, Loeb and Sale must have somehow looked into the future for one of their picks, as they selected John Turturro for the part of Alberto Falcone. In case you’ve forgotten, Turturro would go on to play Carmine Falcone – Alberto’s father – in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, so it’s eerie to see how a prediction came true here – well, sort of.
Writing about Turturro as Falcone, Wizard stated, “John Turturro (Do the Right Thing, Quiz Show) has the quiet innocence and broiling anger necessary to play the maybe-not-so-crazy Alberto Falcone.”
While Crowe never played Batman in the DC Universe, he did secure another important role, playing Jor-El in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. To the surprise of no one, he nailed the part. However, let’s not talk about his other comic book role in Thor: Love and Thunder, because… yeah, let’s not.
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Meanwhile, the Batman franchise has moved on to a Dark Knight Loeb and Sale never pictured in 2000. Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II, with Robert Pattinson back in the cowl, is filming in London ahead of its February 18, 2028, release, nearly six years after the first film.
