When Christian Bale’s Exit As The Batman Reminded People Of Heath Ledger Being Called “One Of The Worst Casting Decisions” As Joker

Christian Bale is one of the finest actors of the current generation and there is no denying that his dedication towards the craft is simply mind-blowing. The actor has molded his own body several times in the past to fit a certain character and that itself shows how passionate he is, as an actor. However, did you know that once Bale was so widely accepted as the superhero Batman that Ben Affleck, who was the next choice for the character, had to bear the brunt of it?

For the unversed, Bale has lately been gearing up for the release of Thor: Love and Thunder which is already creating a lot of hype amongst the audience. The actor will be seen playing a dark character in the film and he looks clearly unrecognizable in the trailer released recently. With heavy makeup on his face and the never-seen-before body language, it is almost clear that he has done a splendid job in it. Apart from him, the movie also stars actors like Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman while the direction has been done by Taika Waititi.

If you are unaware, Christian Bale has worked in three Batman movies, namely, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. All these movies were heavily appreciated by the fans, not just for his performance but also for the poetic direction pulled off by Christopher Nolan.

In fact, Bale was so liked amongst the fans that they were not ready to accept any other actor in his place. Most people assumed that Ben Affleck would not be able to live up to the mark but well, Ben has never been someone to allow others to pull him down merely on the basis of assumptions.

This wasn’t the first time that the audience refused to accept an actor in a specific comic book-centric role and this little detail did not go unnoticed either. Previously, when Heath Ledger was cast as the iconic Joker, critics did not think twice before bluntly calling it a bad choice. A few of the people even threatened to not watch the film if he was the one to play the layered psychopath. They had their own ways of reasoning with it and the most common one was that someone like Ledger, who had a chocolate boy, romantic hero type image at that time, would ‘never’ be able to pull off such a complex role the way Jack Nicholson did in the past.

As per Business Insider, “I am NOT seeing this movie if he is in it. There are over a million better choices”, a Tweet read.

“Probably thé worst casting of all time”, a critic wrote.

“Heath Ledger? A joker? I don’t think so”, another comment read.

“He’s not exactly comic-book material, and he has to fill the impossible-to-fill shoes of Jack Nicholson, who will always be the guy most associated with The Joker”, an analysis read.

We all know what Heath Ledger ended up doing with the character Joker and his performance was the biggest comeback to the critics. Even though he passed away before witnessing the audience reaction, he became an icon for many, one of the best played villains of all time.

What do you think about this pattern of audience reaction during Christian Bale and Ben Affleck’s Batmans and its parallels with Heath Ledger’s Joker? Let us know in the comments!

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