Pierce Brosnan, who co-stars as Doctor Fate alongside Dwayne Johnson in the upcoming Black Adam, has been talking to Jimmy Fallon. Fallon asked him if he’d been offered any other superhero roles, and Brosnan admitted that he auditioned for Batman when Tim Burton was making his 1989 movie. Obviously, Michael Keaton would go to nab the role.
Brosnan thinks that him not getting the role is down to a joke he made to Burton; “I remember saying something stupid to Tim Burton. ‘I can’t understand any man who would wear his underpants outside his trousers.’ But there you go, the best man got the job and Doctor Fate and I were meant to meet on the same page, I think.”
Although Brosnan is happy to be playing the Justice Society of America hero, he did mention that he cannot see a thing in Doctor Fate’s signature golden Helmet of Nabu. “You can’t see a thing, it’s darkness. You’re standing there in a mo-cap suit, which is the most inelegant and humorous thing to wear, ping-pong balls, grey tights.”
If Brosnan had been cast as Batman all those years ago – he’d have experienced the same, if not worse issues with the mask and suit. Keaton has described the horrible claustrophobia and panic he experienced when he was first “locked into” the suit, and Val Kilmer says that you can barely move or hear anything it, which is very isolating.
Brosnan says that Doctor Fate is “shackled to the power of the helmet. It’s an addiction, and it’s a curse.” It looks as though he will be a mentor and source of wisdom to Black Adam, who has his own dark motivations.
While we wait to see the full power of Doctor Fate’s helmet, check out our guide to the best Batman villains.