Let Glen Powell Play a Goofy Batman, You Cowards
After confident and charismatic turns in Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You, it’s clear that Glen Powell is a bonafide movie star. The actor, who stars in this summer’s Twisters, recently graced the cover of GQ, where he discussed his career ambitions.
Powell already has a busy slate as Hollywood’s most in-demand actor. He is set to star in Edgar Wright’s remake of The Running Man and is currently promoting his new Netflix film Hit Man, which premieres next month.
Naturally, Powell’s impending superstardom has turned to talk of potential superhero casting and franchise possibilities. In an interview with GQ‘s Ben Allen, Powell said he wasn’t especially interested in playing a superhero. But he would make an exception to play Bruce Wayne/Batman. But before Pattinson fans get in an uproar, Powell makes it clear that he would have a very different take on the iconic character.
“I was always a Batman guy,” Powell tells me later, as we walk through a hall lined with Batmobiles. Powell has no interest in playing a superhero, but flirts with the idea of Bruce Wayne (who anyway, is just a man). “I would have a wild take on Batman. It definitely would not be like a Matt Reeves tone – it’d probably be closer to Keaton. Oh, sick!” He has found Keaton’s Batmobile. “See? This is the era.”
Incidentally, Powell played a bit part in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. “I get my head smashed in by Bane in The Dark Knight Rises,” he says in the interview.
Here’s the thing: I would love to watch Powell do a goofier take on the Dark Knight. While recent Batman projects have been gritty, dark, and dramatic, I long for the days of a sillier Gotham City. I largely get this itch scratched via Max’s Harley Quinn animated series and Will Arnett’s hilarious LEGO Batman, but audiences are long overdue for a live-action lighthearted Batman.
Let’s bring back the campy, goofy Batman made famous by Adam West. Who wouldn’t want to see Powell do the Batusi?! No one, that’s who. In a world filled with gloomy brooding superheroes, I long for the silliness of Tim Burton’s Prince-infused Joker entrance in 1989’s Batman. I’ll even take an over-the-top camp-fest like Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy in Batman and Robin.
Let Batman dance! And maybe let Glen Powell do the dancing.
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