Hiya!

I dislike the Twilight series. I won’t go as far to say that I hate it but I undoubtedly don’t like it. I didn’t like the movies and I most especially have a strong aversion to the books. The thing I really didn’t appreciate about the Twilight movies is how boring and gross and creepy they generally were. I watched it along with my friends who absolutely loved the books but I shuddered in disgust whenever they swooned over Edward, the sparkly vampire who just loves watching girls while they’re sleeping. Brrrr! That’s called “stalking,” you know!

Speaking of Edward, I never understood his appeal at all. Am I supposed to swoon over the skinny, emo vampire with the sickly complexion who sparkles in sunlight? Well, that’s why they cast Robert Pattinson because he fit the bill. I guess you can say that he is attractive in a sense because there are a ton of girls that swoon over her but he just isn’t my type.

But I’m now in the interesting position of actually defending Robert Pattinson as he, if they rumors are true, is going to play the new Batman! Yes, the very same guy who was cast as a vampire with the glowing skin may possibly be the next Dark Knight! This hasn’t been confirmed and some news outlets are saying that there are still a couple of actors, such as Nicolas Hoult, who are still in the running to play the new Batman. But I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about Robert Pattinson and, it may be hard to believe, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that he can actually be a good Batman!

Of course, this hasn’t stopped the Internet and the multitude of fanboys who have typed in their displeasure in the myriad of comments and blogs all over the world. I get it. It’s really difficult to see Edward, the Twilight vampire, in the hood of the Caped Crusader. But I believe that all of this vitriol is dumb for a couple of reasons. One is geekdom’s history on raging about poor casting choices and then backtracking to admit that they were the best choice.

DC itself has a stunning track record of casting the almost perfect person for the role even if it seems dumb at first glance. When they first cast Ben Affleck as Batman in the new DC Extended Universe, fans didn’t like it. They were already burned by Ben Affleck in Daredevil, not the good Netflix series but the really crappy one that was shown in the 2000s. It’s hard to blame them, though, because Ben Affleck’s performance in Daredevil, well, let’s just say I didn’t see him attending any comic book conventions wearing red spandex because fans wanted to see him in that costume!

Lo and behold, after Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was released to the viewing public, fans were saying Ben Affleck’s Batman was the best thing in the film. Well, maybe the second best thing because fans were also raving about Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. And wouldn’t it be a weird coincidence that fans also reacted negatively when they found out that a skinny beauty queen who’s main claim to fame was the Fast and the Furious films was going to play the towering Amazonian Princess? Well, that’s exactly what happened when DC announced Gal Gadot was Wonder Woman!

Oh, and DC was making counterintuitive casting choices that worked a long time ago. I wasn’t born yet when the Tim Burton Batman movies were released but I’m guessing Batman fans weren’t trilled with the choice to have the quirky guy who played Beetlejuice and Mr. Mom (I had to look that last one up) was going to play Batman! Yes, it was a weird choice but you can’t tell me it didn’t work because that movie is still fantastic even to this day and a lot of it’s greatness is due to Michael Keaton’s performance as both Bruce Wayne and Batman.

But, of course, the greatest example of DC’s outlandish casting that worked was casting Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Before his critically acclaimed performance as The Joker, Heath Ledger was known as a “pretty boy” actor. It’s kind of hard to shake that assumption when you’re playing roles like Cassanova, A Knight’s Tale and Brokeback Mountain. Well, after The Dark Knight, fans had to admit how wrong they were because his performance in it was stunning! The man won an Oscar for it after he died!

Even after all of DC incredible casting choices, fans still strangely think that DC is thinking of casting Robert Pattinson is a troll move. I doubt they didn’t do their due diligence and just cast him on a whim. The guy probably had to audition and he pulled off a performance that just wowed the casting people. Fans don’t have access to the casting footage or they never saw what he did to impress the folks at DC so they still think of him as the sparkly vampire from Twilight, which I think is a little unfair to say the least.

This does neatly lead me to my second reason why I don’t think casting Robert Pattinson is a bad idea just yet. Yes, Robert Pattinson will probably forever associated with his role as Edward in the Twilight films. It’s like Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Christopher Reeve as Superman and Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura (not all examples have to involve superheroes). They can definitely do other roles but, when you see them on screen, you can’t help but think of them in those iconic roles.

But that’s just it. They still can do other acting jobs and, just looking at Robert Pattinson’s resume, you can see he’s done a whole lot more than just Twilight! People simply forgot he was Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and they were fine with him then! Even during and after the Twilight films, he has been taking on other roles and, while I have never seen any of them because they’re usually indy and arthouse films, I’ve seen him getting some rave reviews for his performances! Does he have range? I can’t judge it for myself but, based on the comments of film reviewers, Robert Pattinson actually does!

Am I completely sold on him being the next Batman? No, I am not. Robert Pattinson is too skinny right now to be believable as someone who patrols the dingy city of Gotham at night and strikes fear in the hearts of the superstitious criminal lot. But that can be fixed if he just bulks up, which is what a lot of actors do when they need to. He also needs to get a little more color but that’s easily fixed by sitting in a tanning bed or just have the patience of sitting in a makeup chair for an hour or so.

Robert Pattinson still needs to convince me he’s perfect but I’m not outright shunning the idea because there is still the strong potential that he can be a great Batman. It now becomes a waiting game if I’ll be the one eating crow for believing that he can be a worthy Dark Knight or will it be the thousands of fans who just couldn’t believe the sparkly vampire can play Batman.

What do you think of the possibility that Robert Pattinson can play Batman? Let me know in the comments section below!