Rumour: Tyler Hoechlin screen testing as Bruce Wayne for BATMAN VS SUPERMAN, plus possible story details revealed

There are people who stood 18 hours in the queue to make it into Comic-Con’s Hall H this weekend past, only to have it culminate in nothing more than a line from a 30-year old comic book and a picture of a logo on-screen. And you know what? They loved it! And that’s because a Batman VS Superman movie is kind of a big deal.

Tell people about it and most react in gleeful awe. Virtually everybody asks the same followup question though: “Who’s playing Batman?” We may just have our first possible answer to that today.

Now I must reiterate that this has not been corroborated anywhere, so take this with a big ol’ bag of sodium chloride, but Cosmic Book News claims to have a source inside DC Entertainment who’s revealed to them that Tyler Hoechlin, the now grown-up actor who played Tom Hanks’ son in Road to Perdition and is currently busy getting all lycanthropic in MTV’s Teen Wolf TV series, is set to screen-test opposite Man of Steel‘s Henry Cavill for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the proposed superhero throwdown.

The source claims that while there are other big name actors on the list for the role, DC is preferably looking for somebody who is at about as well known as Henry Cavill was prior to Man of Steel. And with Hoechlin’s looks, acting chops, potential mainstream appeal and currently low-key Hollywood profile, he apparently ticks all their boxes, currently making him the favourite being “heavily considered”.

I’ve not seen a single episode of Teen Wolf, so I can’t attest to his current compatibility, but I will admit that he certainly matches the physical profile, and I remember that his turn in Road to Perdition – only aged 9 at the time – was certainly impressive enough.

Along with the Hoechlin screen test, this source also went on to reveal that DC and Warner Bros are apparently looking to employ the old “heroes meet, misunderstand each other, fight, resolve differences, beat bad guy” routine. Or “bad guys”, as it were.

“The sequel is set a year after Man of Steel, and the world is still getting used to having this powerful god on the planet who isn’t fully trusted by everybody. Batman certainly doesn’t trust Superman. Superman doesn’t trust Batman; either of which causes the two to clash when they initially meet. They do however pair up to defeat the villains (not 100% confirmed who the villains are). COULD be Luthor and Joker, but only a select few really know that. Luthor is definitely in the sequel and he doesn’t like Superman, believing him a threat to the planet.”

Despite the fact that I’m not a fan of Luthor as a villain, I’ve made peace with the fact that he’ll probably be in the next film. There were just too many Easter Eggs thrown at us in Man of Steel for this to not end up being the case here (I just hope they hew more towards the Clancy Butler voiced version of the character from the Bruce Timm animated show). However, I really don’t want to see a Luthor/Joker team-up.

When Luthor is done right (which has not yet happened on film, hence my apprehension), he’s the puppet master pulling the strings. And for him to be most effective, those strings need to be attached to some kind of muscle. As much as I love the Joker as a character, he certainly does not fit that description. He’s nobody’s lackie.

I’d keep Luthor as the main villain and throw somebody like Metallo or Parasite in there to provide the world breaking fisticuffs that will be expected from a Man of Steel sequel. Maybe do a tweaked riff on the “Public Enemies” storyline of Luthor pinning a murder on Superman and getting other heroes to take him on. It would certainly tie in nicely to Man of Steel‘s fatal final moments and give Batman, who abhors killing, a valid reason to try to take Superman down.

All of this may be moot though, because as many sites who’ve reported on this rumour have pointed out, it may be too early in the production cycle any of these grapevine stories to pan out. Then again, WB has had the BatmanVsSupermanMovie.com domain sorted out since August 2012 already. I would be very surprised if some groundwork had not already been laid down for this to happen. So who knows, Batman could indeed be a werewolf.

Last Updated: July 26, 2013