Gyllenhaal's Spiderman And Cavill's Batman: Here's What Marvel And DC Robbed Us Of
Superhero franchises have the highest number of reboots in the industries, and the most classic roles have been played by many actors by now; still, you likely picture Christian Bale and Tobey Maguire when you think about Batman and Spiderman.
No other franchise has as many switcheroos as good old Marvel and DC franchises.
With nine actors having played DC's main superhero Batman and at least the same number of actors having portrayed Marvel's Spiderman, there's no room for discussion of whose role is more "canon" (which never stops the fans, though).
Right now, three actors usually come to mind when talking about Spiderman: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland.
The same with Batman: your first picks are probably Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, and Robert Pattinson. But the first actors for both characters could've easily been replaced by their peers!
After the 2002 Spider-Man release, there were many rumors about Tobey Maguire not coming back to his Spiderman role in the next films: he got injured during another movie's shooting, and fans were worried that he won't be able to recover in time.
Jake Gyllenhaal was rumored to be the first pick for his replacement.
The actor even admitted that he also heard something along those lines and was almost ready to take over the role since he knew about Maguire's injury.
Eventually, Tobey Maguire recovered, finished the trilogy, and even came back to his role years later in the new movies alongside Garfield and Holland.
Gyllenhaal joined the Marvel Universe in 2019 as Mysterio — but now you know that he almost became Spiderman years prior.
Funnily enough, Gyllenhaal also auditioned for the role of Batman in Christopher Nolan 's Batman Begins alongside Henry Cavill.
For Cavill, this role would've meant a massive boost to his acting career — and he was considered for Batman until Christian Bale came along.
Even though he didn't get the role, this audition allowed Cavill to leave a lasting impression on Warner Bros.
When it came to casting a new Superman, Henry was the immediate pick, and a DC superhero role did jump-start his career in big-screen in the end.
But just picture Cavill as Bruce Wayne and you'll likely love it as we did.