Batman Might Be a Grizzled, Mean Bastard

"I want you to remember, Clark...in all the years to come...in your most private moments…I want you to remember...my hand...at your throat...I want you to remember...the one man who beat you."

While Zack Snyder swears they're not making The Dark Knight Returns, that line, as read by Harry Lennix at Comic-Con, says it all about the conflict for When Clark Met Bruce..., the title I'm bestowing on what will likely be called Batman Versus Superman until Warner Brothers confirms.

In the comics, it's the ultimate Good Cop/Bad Cop routine. That would present a problem since the Bruce Wayne as interpreted by Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan, would accept a guy like Henry Cavill's Clark Kent with open arms as long as it meant he stayed in retirement. I say that. If Bale were to give the OK (and God has WB tried), they would work around it.

THR says the shortlist for Bats contenders includes Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Joe Manganiello and a few others who won't get it anyway. The dickhead, dwarf leader in The Hobbit trilogy (Richard Armitage), the cool dad to the asshole Australian from Pacific Rim (Max Martini) and Matthew Goode. The plan is for a mean, rugged and experienced Batman; age is expendable. Hence the rubber-band range from the 32 year-old Gosling to the pushing-50 Brolin.

Brolin is cool but he ain't box-office having headlined a couple of pricey stinkers for WB. Labeled to frontrunner status, according to the trades, some have suggested an offer is already on Brolin's table. Without a script in hand (let alone in existence) and screen-testing in the suit, I wouldn't pay much attention to that. The Gosling appeal I'll never understand. What, because he played a quiet, skull-thumping do-gooder in Drive, that makes him perfect for Batman? Sorry, but I don't see it. Manganiello, I'm not surprised to hear. He was the Runner-Up for Superman a few years ago and someone who Snyder liked quite a bit.

Alas none of these guys are the kind of choices to excite the general masses to want to see this over The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Unless their name is Christian Bale (or Joseph Gordon-Levitt).