What Did We Think Of Alan Ritchson’s Batman Audition In ‘Reacher’ Season 3?

Reacher continues to be one of Amazon Prime Video’s most popular series, seemingly greenlit indefinitely with endless source material, and a relatively cheap production that almost never leaves the service’s top 10 list.

Most of that is due to its enigmatic star, Alan Ritchson, the hulking drifter who punches and reasons his way through crimes and murders as he wanders the earth. The show has just finished up season 3 this past week and boy, did that entire thing feel like a giant audition for Batman.

I’m not bringing this up randomly, Ritchson has said outright that he wants to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in James Gunn’s new DCU. Here’s him in an interview with THR:

“I would love to play Batman. There, I said it. I’ll shout it from the rooftops—’I want to be Bruce Wayne!’” Then, he went on to tell Wired recently that “You wouldn’t even have to pay me” to take the role.

Ritchson is no stranger to superhero parts, previously playing fellow Justice League member Aquaman all the way back in Smallville. Then, Hawk in the Titans series. He was killed off there, presumably to go start up Reacher.

Season 3 of Reacher very much felt like a way to expand Reacher’s “detective” powers without relying on big choreographed fight scenes every other episode. He’s constantly intutively finding small clues that leads him to uncovering secrets and tracking down a missing girl. But the season ends with a fight against the 7’2 Olivier Richters which I mean, that’s Batman versus Bane for you.

I don’t actually know if that was Ritchson’s intent this season, but I am reminded of something similar that just happened with Aaron Pierre, who starred in Rebel Ridge, which is more or less a storyline identical to a Reacher plot. A month later, he was cast as Green Lantern in the DCU. So if he can do it, what about Ritchson?

The most obvious pushback about Ritchson is his size. But a few things there. First, there are many instances of “Big Batman” in the comics. Ben Affleck played a version of that in the DCEU, and now “Absolute Batman” in the comics is a brick wall. And a larger Batman would be a stark contrast to The Batman’s Batman, Robert Pattinson.

Second, yes, Alan Ritchson is probably the most jacked mainstream actor alive. But his bio puts him at “only” 6’3, and shots are sometimes angled to make him look taller (book Reacher is 6’5). And he would be shorter than Superman’s David Corenswet, who is 6’4 (the tallest Superman ever cast).

I don’t know how I feel about Ritchson as Batman. I think with his size and being 42 would distance himself from Pattinson (yes, Pattinson is 38 but playing a much younger Batman). But there is more to being cast as Batman than just wanting it very badly and showing off your potential bat-skills in a show. No doubt he’s under consideration, but given that the DCU’s Brave and the Bold doesn’t even have a release window yet, it may be some time before we figure out if this could actually happen or not.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.