Is Denzel Washington Up For A Role In BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN?

Sometimes, I just don’t know how to handle all these rumors coming out over Batman vs. Superman. When Gal Gadot was actually cast as Wonder Woman after being rumored to be in the running, it seems like we’d have to take a good hard look at any rumor that came down the pike. While the latest rumor seems like wishful thinking, we have to examine it like it might happen.

Nuke the Fridge has had sources tell them that Denzel Washington has been in negotiations with Warner Brothers for a role in the upcoming Henry Cavill/Ben Affleck film. The first rumor said that Washington was in line for Lex Luthor. The second rumor was that he was in line to play John Stewart, DC’s second Green Lantern.

I am going to go on the record as saying that this is one rumor I hope will come true. I consider Washington to be the best actor of his generation. Not only that, he often raises the level of the material he is working with to a higher level. I mean, he can’t turn a lump of coal into a diamond, but he can make that lump of coal at least partly entertaining.

Now, I’m not saying that fans would not be up in arms over if he was cast as the Caucasian Lex Luthor. But those people would be idiots if not flat out racist.  Except for Tom Hanks, Washington is a better actor that just about anyone else mentioned for the part so far, in my opinion. I’d be truly excited to see what he would do with the role, and his being a different skin color that the comic book incarnation would not dissuade me from wanting to see it.

And while Lex Luthor would be a great role for Washington, John Stewart would be a more plausible choice. It would allow Warners to distance themselves from the box office flop that was Green Lantern and allow it to do either a soft or hard reboot with the property. John Stewart is a fairly well known character, being the Green Lantern in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. And while Washington is pushing 60, he doesn’t look it and, besides, age don’t mean a thing when you have a power ring.

Of course, there are red flags. Washington is a two-time Oscar winner, and those type of actors don’t usually play second bananas in any movie. Granted, the main villain is a showy enough part for an actor of Washington’s stature, and if John Stewart is in the film, the idea would be to introduce him so he can get his own film some day, And if the character is in the film, they are going to have to establish him into the film’s continuity.This leads me to sing the same old song that there just might too many characters in the film for it to actually work, as that will be the third character they would have to establish and present a back story for.

Developing.